Using Synthetic Biology to Engineer Living Cells That Interface with Programmable Materials

Heyde, Keith C.; Scott, Felicia Y.; Paek, Sanghyun; Zhang, Ruihua; Ruder, Warren C.

doi:10.3791/55300-v

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…These properties include self-assembly, self-healing, and sensing and responding to signals. The cells of microbial species including yeast [4] , cyanobacteria [5] and Bacillus subtilis [6,7] have been used in ELMs, with Escherichia coli an especially common focus of ELM researchers [2,[8][9][10] because of its extensive characterization and tractability for genetic engineering [11] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-regulating living material with temperature-dependent light absorption

Xiong

Garrett

Kornfield

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Engineered living materials (ELMs) exhibit desirable characteristics of the living component, including growth and repair, and responsiveness to external stimuli.Escherichia coliare a promising constituent of ELMs because they are very tractable to genetic engineering, produce heterologous proteins readily, and grow exponentially. However, seasonal variation in ambient temperature presents a challenge in deploying ELMs outside of a laboratory environment, becauseE. coligrowth rate is impaired both below and above 37°C. Here, we develop a genetically-encoded mechanism for autonomous temperature homeostasis in ELMs containingE. coliby engineering circuits that control the expression of a light-absorptive chromophore in response to changes in temperature. We demonstrate that below 36°C, our engineeredE. coliincrease in pigmentation, causing an increase in sample temperature and growth rate above non-pigmented counterparts in a model planar ELM. On the other hand, above 36°C, they decrease in pigmentation, protecting their growth compared to bacteria with temperature-independent high pigmentation. Integrating our temperature homeostasis circuit into an ELM has the potential to improve living material performance by optimizing growth and protein production in the face of seasonal temperature changes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-regulating living material with temperature-dependent light absorption

Xiong

Garrett

Kornfield

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…[4][5][6] Biomineralized living materials have the potential to comprise the structure of buildings, akin to cement blocks, or to form a protective surface coating, as in roofing shingles or tiles. The cells of microbial species including yeast, [7] cyanobacteria, [4] and Bacillus subtilis [8][9][10][11][12] have been used in ELMs, with Escherichia coli (E. coli) an especially common focus of ELM researchers [2,[13][14][15] because of its extensive characterization and tractability for genetic engineering. [16] While E. coli is a laboratory workhorse, it normally lives in the intestines of warm-blooded animals, where the host maintains a stable temperature of ≈37 °C.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Living Material with Temperature‐Dependent Light Absorption

Xiong,

Garrett,

Kornfield

et al. 2023

Advanced Science

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Engineered living materials (ELMs) exhibit desirable characteristics of the living component, including growth and repair, and responsiveness to external stimuli. Escherichia coli (E. coli) are a promising constituent of ELMs because they are very tractable to genetic engineering, produce heterologous proteins readily, and grow exponentially. However, seasonal variation in ambient temperature presents a challenge in deploying ELMs outside of a laboratory environment because E. coli growth rate is impaired both below and above 37 °C. Here, a genetic circuit is developed that controls the expression of a light‐absorptive chromophore in response to changes in temperature. It is demonstrated that at temperatures below 36 °C, the engineered E. coli increase in pigmentation, causing an increase in sample temperature and growth rate above non‐pigmented counterparts in a model planar ELM. On the other hand, at above 36 °C, they decrease in pigmentation, protecting the growth compared to bacteria with temperature‐independent high pigmentation. Integrating the temperature‐responsive circuit into an ELM has the potential to improve living material performance by optimizing growth and protein production in the face of seasonal temperature changes.

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Using Synthetic Biology to Engineer Living Cells That Interface with Programmable Materials

Cited by 2 publications

References 1 publication

Self-regulating living material with temperature-dependent light absorption

Self-regulating living material with temperature-dependent light absorption

Living Material with Temperature‐Dependent Light Absorption

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