2024 AIChE Annual Meeting
(174bn) Microbe Interaction Unveiled through Click Chemistry
Synthetic multicellular systems hold promise in controlling the functions of multi-component microbial communities, understanding biofilm formation, facilitating therapeutic delivery, and developing smart living material. Although efforts have been made to aggregate bacteria, there has been limited efforts exploring diverse systems involving both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells. Here we present the usage of click chemistry to stimulate the interaction and binding affinity between two distinct organisms. Our investigation focuses on elucidating the interactions between single-celled eukaryotic microorganisms and bacteria, with the objective of gaining insights into the advantages of nutrient exchange and the potential for redesigning community functions. Specifically, we used the strain-promoted azide-alkyne cycloaddition (SPAAC) - a commonly used reaction in click chemistry for linking molecules and peptides. Through this method, we achieved the conjugation of a bacteria strain with single celled algae cells. We observed the formation of a single layer of bacteria around the algae cells, with no discernible toxicity observed. Moving forward, we will explore the benefits of nutrient exchange and enhancing community function through this conjugation system.