Light-responsive E. coli functional biofilms as scaffolds for hydroxyapatite mineralization

Living organisms have evolved mechanisms of biomineralization to build structurally ordered and environmentally adaptive composite materials. While research teams have significantly improved biomimetic mineralization research in the lab, it is still difficult to engineer mineralized composites with structural features and living components much like their native counterparts. In a new report now published on Nature Chemical Biology, Yanyi Wang and a research team in physics, advanced materials, synthetic biology, and engineering in China, developed living patterned and gradient composites inspired by natural graded materials. They coupled light-inducible bacterial biofilm formation with biomimetic hydroxyapatite (HA) mineralization in this work, to show how the location and degree of mineralization could be controlled. The cells in the composites remained viable while sensing and responding to environmental signals. The composites showed a 15-fold increase in Young's modulus (i.e., stiffness, the ratio between stress and strain) after mineralization. The work sheds light to develop living composites with dynamic responsiveness and environmental adaptability.

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