Incorporating Bacteria as a Living Component in Supramolecular Self-Assembled Monolayers through Dynamic Nanoscale Interactions.
Supramolecular assemblies, formed through noncovalent interactions, has become particularly attractive to develop dynamic and responsive architectures to address living systems at the nanoscale. Cucurbit[8]uril (CB[8]), a pumpkin shaped macrocylic host molecule, has been successfully used to construct various self-assembled architectures for biomedical applications since it can simultaneously bind two aromatic guest molecules within its cavity. Such architectures can also be designed to respond to external stimuli. Integrating living organisms as an active component into such supramolecular architectures would add a new dimension to the capabilities of such systems. To achieve this, we have incorporated supramolecular functionality at the bacterial surface by genetically modifying a transmembrane protein to display a CB[8]-binding motif as part of a cystine-stabilized miniprotein. We were able to confirm that this supramolecular motif on the bacterial surface specifically binds CB[8] and forms multiple intercellular ternary complexes leading to aggregation of the bacterial solution. We performed various aggregation experiments to understand how CB[8] interacts with this bacterial strain and also demonstrate that it can be chemically reversed using a competitor. To confirm that this strain can be incorporated with a CB[8] based architecture, we show that the bacterial cells were able to adhere to CB[8] self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on gold and still retain considerable motility for several hours, indicating that the system can potentially be used to develop supramolecular bacterial biomotors. The bacterial strain also has the potential to be combined with other CB[8] based architectures like nanoparticles, vesicles and hydrogels.
Laboratory group of Bioinspired Molecular Engineering, Molecular Nanofabrication Group, Faculty of Science and Technology and MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, Enschede 7500AE, The Netherlands.
Shrikrishnan
S
Sankaran
Laboratory group of Bioinspired Molecular Engineering, Molecular Nanofabrication Group, Faculty of Science and Technology and MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, Enschede 7500AE, The Netherlands.
Mustafa Can
MC
Kiren
Laboratory group of Bioinspired Molecular Engineering, Molecular Nanofabrication Group, Faculty of Science and Technology and MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, Enschede 7500AE, The Netherlands.
Pascal
P
Jonkheijm
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001419:Bacteria / Q000166:cytology* / Q000235:genetics; D001952:Bridged-Ring Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D007093:Imidazoles / Q000737:chemistry; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D015202:Protein Engineering; D013499:Surface Properties; D047028:Macrocyclic Compounds; D000099246:Cucurbit(n)urils
D001952:Bridged-Ring Compounds; D007093:Imidazoles; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C507198:cucurbit(8)uril; D047028:Macrocyclic Compounds; D000099246:Cucurbit(n)urils
Cucurbit[8]uril; E. coli; aggregation; bacterial display; eCPX; knottins; self-assembled monolayers; supramolecular