Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, 55128 Mainz, Germany.
Institute of Physiological Chemistry and Pathobiochemistry, University of Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany.
ACS Synth Biol. 2020 May 15;9(5):1169-1180. doi: 10.1021/acssynbio.0c00054. Epub 2020 Apr 15.
Although the fundamental importance and biotechnological potential of multibacterial communities, also called biofilms, are well-known, our ability to control them is limited. We present a new way of dynamically controlling bacteria-bacteria adhesions by using blue light and how these photoswitchable adhesions can be used to regulate multicellularity and associated bacterial behavior. To achieve this, the photoswitchable proteins nMagHigh and pMagHigh were expressed on bacterial surfaces as adhesins to allow multicellular clusters to assemble under blue light and reversibly disassemble in the dark. Regulation of the bacterial cell-cell adhesions with visible light provides unique advantages including high spatiotemporal control, tunability, and noninvasive remote regulation. Moreover, these photoswitchable adhesions make it possible to regulate collective bacterial functions including aggregation, quorum sensing, biofilm formation, and metabolic cross-feeding between auxotrophic bacteria with light. Overall, the photoregulation of bacteria-bacteria adhesions provides a new way of studying bacterial cell biology and will enable the design of biofilms for biotechnological applications.
尽管多细菌群落（也称为生物膜）的基本重要性和生物技术潜力是众所周知的，但我们控制它们的能力有限。我们提出了一种通过使用蓝光动态控制细菌-细菌黏附的新方法，以及这些光可切换黏附物如何用于调节多细胞性和相关细菌行为。为此，将光可切换蛋白 nMagHigh 和 pMagHigh 作为黏附蛋白表达在细菌表面上，以使多细胞簇在蓝光下组装，并在黑暗中可逆地解聚。使用可见光调节细菌细胞-细胞黏附具有独特的优势，包括高时空控制、可调性和非侵入性远程调节。此外，这些光可切换黏附物使得可以用光来调节包括聚集、群体感应、生物膜形成以及营养缺陷型细菌之间代谢交叉喂养在内的集体细菌功能。总体而言，细菌-细菌黏附的光调控为研究细菌细胞生物学提供了一种新方法，并将使生物膜的设计能够用于生物技术应用。
