Physical Chemistry I and Research Center of Micro and Nanochemistry and Engineering (Cμ), Department of Chemistry and Biology, University of Siegen , Adolf-Reichwein-Strasse 2, 57076, Siegen, Germany.
State Key Lab of Metal Matrix Composites, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University , 800 Dongchuan Road, 200240, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Langmuir. 2017 Aug 8;33(31):7799-7809. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.7b00749. Epub 2017 May 31.
The combination of supramolecular hydrogels formed by low molecular weight gelator self-assembly via noncovalent interactions within a scaffold derived from polyethylene glycol (PEG) affords an interesting approach to immobilize fully functional, isolated reporter bacteria in novel microwell arrays. The PEG-based scaffold serves as a stabilizing element and provides physical support for the self-assembly of the C-phenyl-derived gelator on the micrometer scale. Supramolecular hydrogel microwell arrays with various shapes and sizes were used to isolate single or small numbers of Escherichia coli TOP10 pTetR-LasR-pLuxR-GFP. In the presence of the autoinducer N-(3-oxododecanoyl) homoserine lactone, the entrapped E. coli in the hydrogel microwell arrays showed an increased GFP expression. The shape and size of microwell arrays did not influence the fluorescence intensity and the projected size of the bacteria markedly, while the population density of seeded bacteria affected the number of bacteria expressing GFP per well. The hydrogel microwell arrays can be further used to investigate quorum sensing, reflecting communication in inter- and intraspecies bacterial communities for biology applications in the field of biosensors. In the future, these self-assembled hydrogel microwell arrays can also be used as a substrate to detect bacteria via secreted autoinducers.
通过非共价相互作用自组装形成的低分子量凝胶因子在源自聚乙二醇 (PEG) 的支架内形成的超分子水凝胶组合，为固定完全功能的、分离的报道细菌提供了一种有趣的方法，这些细菌固定在新型微井阵列中。基于 PEG 的支架作为稳定元件，并为 C-苯基衍生的凝胶因子在微米尺度上的自组装提供物理支持。使用具有各种形状和尺寸的超分子水凝胶微井阵列来分离单个或少量的大肠杆菌 TOP10 pTetR-LasR-pLuxR-GFP。在自动诱导物 N-(3-氧代十二烷酰基)高丝氨酸内酯存在下，水凝胶微井阵列中包埋的大肠杆菌显示出增强的 GFP 表达。微井阵列的形状和尺寸对荧光强度和细菌的投影尺寸没有明显影响，而接种细菌的种群密度影响每孔表达 GFP 的细菌数量。水凝胶微井阵列可进一步用于研究群体感应，反映细菌之间和种内群落中的通信，用于生物传感器领域的生物学应用。将来，这些自组装水凝胶微井阵列也可以用作通过分泌的自动诱导物检测细菌的底物。
