Engineering living and regenerative fungal-bacterial biocomposite structures

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Synthetic Biology
• Microbiology

Background:

• Engineered living materials offer potential for self-repair, replication, and environmental sensing.
• Current limitations exist in developing responsive engineered living materials for macroscopic applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and characterize a fungal-bacterial biocomposite for creating moldable, foldable, and regenerative macroscopic living structures.
• To engineer a bacterial chassis for enhanced biosynthetic and sensing-reporting functionalities within the biocomposite.

Main Methods:

• Cultivation of a fungal-bacterial biocomposite on lignocellulosic feedstocks.
• Development of mold-based and origami-inspired growth and assembly strategies for human-scale structures.
• Microbiome profiling to identify and isolate Pantoea agglomerans as a key bacterial component for engineering.

Main Results:

• Successful creation of moldable, foldable, and regenerative living structures at human scale.
• Identification and isolation of Pantoea agglomerans as a critical component for material properties.
• Engineering of P. agglomerans to introduce novel biosynthetic and sensing-reporting capabilities into living blocks.

Conclusions:

• Bioprospecting native microbiota is a viable strategy for developing engineerable chassis.
• This engineered fungal-bacterial biocomposite advances the development of functional, macroscopic living materials.
• The developed living blocks demonstrate potential for advanced applications in responsive and regenerative systems.