Hybrid Living Capsules Autonomously Produced by Engineered Bacteria.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Birnbaum DP
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8188213 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:Plant growth is a self-organized process incorporating distributed sensing, internal communication and morphology dynamics. We develop a distributed mechatronic system that autonomously interacts with natural climbing plants, steering their behaviours to grow user-defined shapes and patterns. Investigating this bio-hybrid system paves the way towards the development of living adaptive structures and grown building components. In this new application domain, challenges include sensing, actuation and the combination of engineering methods and natural plants in the experimental set-up. By triggering behavioural responses in the plants through light spectra stimuli, we use static mechatronic nodes to grow climbing plants in a user-defined pattern at a two-dimensional plane. The experiments show successful growth over periods up to eight weeks. Results of the stimuli-guided experiments are substantially different from the control experiments. Key limitations are the number of repetitions performed and the scale of the systems tested. Recommended future research would investigate the use of similar bio-hybrids to connect construction elements and grow shapes of larger size.
| S-EPMC6227980 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Living cells have the capability to synthesize molecular components and precisely assemble them from the nanoscale to build macroscopic living functional architectures under ambient conditions. The emerging field of living materials has leveraged microbial engineering to produce materials for various applications but building 3D structures in arbitrary patterns and shapes has been a major challenge. Here we set out to develop a bioink, termed as "microbial ink" that is produced entirely from genetically engineered microbial cells, programmed to perform a bottom-up, hierarchical self-assembly of protein monomers into nanofibers, and further into nanofiber networks that comprise extrudable hydrogels. We further demonstrate the 3D printing of functional living materials by embedding programmed Escherichia coli (E. coli) cells and nanofibers into microbial ink, which can sequester toxic moieties, release biologics, and regulate its own cell growth through the chemical induction of rationally designed genetic circuits. In this work, we present the advanced capabilities of nanobiotechnology and living materials technology to 3D-print functional living architectures.
| S-EPMC8611031 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Capsules allow bacteria to colonize novel environments, to withstand numerous stresses, and to resist antibiotics. Yet, even though genetic exchanges with other cells should be adaptive under such circumstances, it has been suggested that capsules lower the rates of homologous recombination and horizontal gene transfer. We analysed over one hundred pan-genomes and thousands of bacterial genomes for the evidence of an association between genetic exchanges (or lack thereof) and the presence of a capsule system. We found that bacteria encoding capsules have larger pan-genomes, higher rates of horizontal gene transfer, and higher rates of homologous recombination in their core genomes. Accordingly, genomes encoding capsules have more plasmids, conjugative elements, transposases, prophages, and integrons. Furthermore, capsular loci are frequent in plasmids, and can be found in prophages. These results are valid for Bacteria, independently of their ability to be naturally transformable. Since we have shown previously that capsules are commonly present in nosocomial pathogens, we analysed their co-occurrence with antibiotic resistance genes. Genomes encoding capsules have more antibiotic resistance genes, especially those encoding efflux pumps, and they constitute the majority of the most worrisome nosocomial bacteria. We conclude that bacteria with capsule systems are more genetically diverse and have fast-evolving gene repertoires, which may further contribute to their success in colonizing novel niches such as humans under antibiotic therapy.
| S-EPMC6322790 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The CO2 absorption by ionic liquids (ILs) were enhanced by the use of hybrid capsules composed of a core of IL and shell of polyurea and alkylated graphene oxide (GO). These composite structures were synthesized using a Pickering emulsion as a template and capsules of two different ILs were prepared. The contribution of the encapsulated IL on the CO2 absorption of the capsules is consistent with agitated neat IL, but with improved kinetics of absorption across different pressures. This novel materials design allows for CO2 to be absorbed significantly faster compared to bulk IL and provides insight into improved carbon capture technologies.
| S-EPMC7837423 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Native E. coli isolated from C57BL/6 male mouse, and transformed versions re-introduced to other mice.
| PRJEB39003 | ENA
Project description:Organoids derived from self-organizing stem cells represent a major technological breakthrough with the potential to revolutionize biomedical research. However, building high-fidelity organoids in a reproducible and high-throughput manner remains challenging. Here, a droplet microfluidic system is developed for controllable fabrication of hybrid hydrogel capsules, which allows for massive 3D culture and formation of functional and uniform islet organoids derived from human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs). In this all-in-water microfluidic system, an array of droplets is utilized as templates for one-step fabrication of binary capsules relying on interfacial complexation of oppositely charged Na-alginate (NaA) and chitosan (CS). The produced hybrid capsules exhibit high uniformity, and are biocompatible, stable, and permeable. The established system enables capsule production, 3D culture, and self-organizing formation of human islet organoids in a continuous process by encapsulating pancreatic endocrine cells from hiPSCs. The generated islet organoids contain islet-specific ?- and ?-like cells with high expression of pancreatic hormone specific genes and proteins. Moreover, they exhibit sensitive glucose-stimulated insulin secretion function, demonstrating the capability of these binary capsules to engineer human organoids from hiPSCs. The proposed system is scalable, easy-to-operate, and stable, which can offer a robust platform for advancing human organoids research and translational applications.
| S-EPMC7284190 | biostudies-literature
Project description:H5N8 influenza virus is a highly pathogenic pathogen for the poultry and human. Vaccination is the most effective method to control the spread of the virus right now. The traditional inactivated vaccine, though well developed and used widely, is laborious during application and more interests are stimulated in developing alternative approaches. In this study, we developed three HA gene-based yeast vaccines and our experimental results demonstrated that all of these vaccines elicited the humoral immunity, inhibited viral load in the chicken tissues, and provided protective efficacy partially due to the high dose of H5N8 virus. Molecular mechanism studies suggested that, compared to the traditional inactivated vaccine, our engineered yeast vaccines reshaped the immune cell microenvironment in bursa of Fabriciu to promote the defense and immune responses. Analysis of gut microbiota further suggested that oral administration of engineered ST1814G/H5HA yeast vaccines increased the diversity of gut microbiota and the increasement of Reuteri and Muciniphila might benefit the recovery from influenza virus infection. These results provide strong evidences for further clinical use of these engineered yeast vaccines in poultry.
2023-01-01 | GSE220714 | GEO
Project description:The successful treatment of limb ischemia requires that promote angiogenesis along with microenvironment improvement. Zinc ions have been reported to stimulate angiogenesis, but application was limited to the toxicity concerns. We hypothesized that zinc based metal-EGCG capsule (EGCG/Zn Ps) can achieve sustained release Zn2+ resulting in reduced toxicity and improve angiogenesis as well as the improvement of microenvironment by ROS scavenging of EGCG. The surface morphology, zeta potential, infrared absorbance peaks and zinc ion release profile of the EGCG/Zn Ps were measured. In vitro, EGCG/Zn showed significantly antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and induced cell migration effect. In addition, EGCG/Zn Ps enabled the sustained release of zinc ions, which reduced cytotoxicity and enhanced the secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in vitro and in vivo. In mouse models of limb ischemia, EGCG/Zn Ps promoted angiogenesis and cell proliferation in ischemic tissues. Moreover, EGCG/Zn Ps group exhibited the most significant recovery of limb ischemic score, limb temperature and blood flow than other groups. In conclusion, EGCG/Zn Ps is a safe and promising approach to combine the merit of Zn2+ and EGCG, thus enabling the direct application to limb ischemia.
| S-EPMC7415630 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Microbial biosynthesis of alkanes is considered a promising method for the sustainable production of drop-in fuels and chemicals. Carbon dioxide would be an ideal carbon source for these production systems, but efficient production of long carbon chains from CO2 is difficult to achieve in a single organism. A potential solution is to employ acetogenic bacteria for the reduction of CO2 to acetate, and engineer a second organism to convert the acetate into long-chain hydrocarbons.In this study, we demonstrate alkane production from CO2 by a system combining the acetogen Acetobacterium woodii and a non-native alkane producer Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1 engineered for alkane production. Nine synthetic two-step alkane biosynthesis pathways consisting of different aldehyde- and alkane-producing enzymes were combinatorically constructed and expressed in A. baylyi. The aldehyde-producing enzymes studied were AAR from Synechococcus elongatus, Acr1 from A. baylyi, and a putative dehydrogenase from Nevskia ramosa. The alkane-producing enzymes were ADOs from S. elongatus and Nostoc punctiforme, and CER1 from Arabidopsis thaliana. The performance of the pathways was evaluated with a twin-layer biosensor, which allowed the monitoring of both the intermediate (fatty aldehyde), and end product (alkane) formation. The highest alkane production, as indicated by the biosensor, was achieved with a pathway consisting of AAR and ADO from S. elongatus. The performance of this pathway was further improved by balancing the relative expression levels of the enzymes to limit the accumulation of the intermediate fatty aldehyde. Finally, the acetogen A. woodii was used to produce acetate from CO2 and H2, and the acetate was used for alkane production by the engineered A. baylyi, thereby leading to the net production of long-chain alkanes from CO2.A modular system for the production of drop-in liquid fuels from CO2 was demonstrated. Among the studied synthetic pathways, the combination of ADO and AAR from S. elongatus was found to be the most efficient in heterologous alkane production in A. baylyi. Furthermore, limiting the accumulation of the fatty aldehyde intermediate was found to be beneficial for the alkane production. Nevertheless, the alkane productivity of the system remained low, representing a major challenge for future research.
| S-EPMC6102805 | biostudies-other
Project description:Tissue engineered nerve grafts (TENGs) built from living neurons and aligned axon tracts offer a revolutionary new approach as "living scaffolds" to bridge major peripheral nerve defects. Clinical application, however, necessitates sufficient shelf-life to allow for shipping from manufacturing facility to clinic as well as storage until use. Here, hypothermic storage in commercially available hibernation media is explored as a potential biopreservation strategy for TENGs. After up to 28 days of refrigeration at 4℃, TENGs maintain viability and structure in vitro. Following transplantation into 1 cm rat sciatic defects, biopreserved TENGs routinely survive and persist for at least 2 weeks and recapitulate pro-regenerative mechanisms of fresh TENGs, including the ability to recruit regenerating host tissue into the graft and extend neurites beyond the margins of the graft. The protocols and timelines established here serve as important foundational work for the manufacturing, storage, and translation of other neuron-based tissue engineered therapeutics.
| S-EPMC8361542 | biostudies-literature