Polymer-induced biofilms for enhanced biocatalysis

Area of Science:

• Microbiology and Materials Science
• Synthetic Biology
• Biotechnology

Background:

• Biofilms offer resilience for applications like biocatalysis and bioremediation.
• Beneficial bacteria often exhibit poor biofilm formation, hindering applications.
• Current solutions like genetic engineering are costly, time-consuming, and not universally applicable.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate synthetic polymers as simple additives to promote biofilm formation.
• To develop an alternative to genetic modification for enhancing bacterial biofilm capabilities.
• To assess the impact of synthetic polymers on microbial physiology and biocatalytic performance.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of polymers with various functional moieties (cationic, aromatic, heteroaromatic, aliphatic) using controlled radical polymerization and dynamic covalent chemistry.
• Evaluation of polymer-induced biofilm formation in *Escherichia coli* strains with differing biofilm-forming capacities (MC4100 and PHL644).
• Assessment of biofilm performance in a biocatalytic transformation assay (5-fluoroindole to 5-fluorotryptophan).

Main Results:

• Hydrophobic synthetic polymers, particularly those with aromatic and heteroaromatic moieties, effectively induce biofilm formation in poor-forming *E. coli* strains.
• Polymer-treated strains achieved biomass production and curli expression comparable or superior to well-forming strains.
• The synthetic polymers enhanced the biocatalytic efficiency of *E. coli* biofilms in converting 5-fluoroindole to 5-fluorotryptophan.

Conclusions:

• Synthetic polymers serve as effective, non-genetic tools to nucleate and enhance bacterial biofilm formation.
• These polymers can modulate microbial physiology, mimicking effects of genetic modification.
• The developed synthetic polymers show promise for advancing biofilm-based applications in biocatalysis and beyond.