Implementation of Blue Light Switchable Bacterial Adhesion for Design of Biofilms

Control of bacterial adhesions to a substrate with high precision in space and time is important to form a well-defined biofilm. Here, we present a method to engineer bacteria such that they adhere specifically to substrates under blue light through the photoswitchable proteins nMag and pMag. This provides exquisite spatiotemporal remote control over these interactions. The engineered bacteria express pMag protein on the surface so that they can adhere to substrates with nMag protein immobilization under blue light, and reversibly detach in the dark. This process can be repeatedly turned on and off. In addition, the bacterial adhesion property can be adjusted by expressing different pMag proteins on the bacterial surface and altering light intensity. This protocol provides light switchable, reversible and tunable control of bacteria adhesion with high spatial and temporal resolution, which enables us to pattern bacteria on substrates with great flexibility.