Engineered living conductive biofilms as functional materials
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Synthetic Biology Prospective
Engineered living conductive biofilms as functional materials Lina J. Bird, and Elizabeth L. Onderko, National Research Council, 500 Fifth Street NW, Washington, DC 20001, USA Daniel A. Phillips, and Rebecca L. Mickol, American Society for Engineering Education, 1818 N Street NW Suite 600, Washington, DC 20036, USA Anthony P. Malanoski, Matthew D. Yates, Brian J. Eddie, and Sarah M. Glaven , Center for Bio/Molecular Science and Engineering, Naval Research Laboratory, 4555 Overlook Ave SW, Washington, DC 20375, USA Address all correspondence to Sarah M. Glaven at [email protected] (Received 10 December 2018; accepted 20 February 2019)
Abstract Natural living conductive biofilms transport electrons between electrodes and cells, as well as among cells fixed within the film, catalyzing an array of reactions from acetate oxidation to CO2 reduction. Synthetic biology offers tools to modify or improve electron transport through biofilms, creating a new class of engineered living conductive materials. Engineered living conductive materials could be used in a range of applications for which traditional conducting polymers are not appropriate, including improved catalytic coatings for microbial fuel-cell electrodes, self-powered sensors for austere environments, and next-generation living components of bioelectronic devices that interact with the human microbiome.
Introduction Microbial biofilms are able to naturally colonize electrodes and form conductive matrices consisting of living cells and extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) (proteins, sugars, DNA) (for a review, see Ref. 1). This phenomenon is well-known and the growth of such biofilms is standard lab practice for research groups in the field of microbial electrochemistry and electromicrobiology.[2] Since conductive biofilms have been shown to possess the characteristics of redox conducting polymers,[3] we can consider them as biologic materials in order to create new molecules, sensors, and bio-derived materials.[4] However, creation of these new materials requires the ability to precisely engineer the living component. Synthetic biology aims to confer design and engineering principles with living organisms, an approach now being implemented to re-engineer natural living conductive biofilms or engineer extracellular electron transfer (EET) pathways into organisms that do not naturally have them. Precise control over microbial EET could enable the use of such materials to address long-standing problems, such as corrosion and biofouling, as well as for new applications such as sensing/reporting with electrical signals,[5] increased conductivity for electronic applications,[6] and improved catalysis for power and energy from microbial fuel cells. Although microbial electrochemical activity was first observed over 100 years ago,[7] and rediscovered in the early 2000s where it grew into the field of microbial electrochemistry, the development of engineered conductive biofilms as living materials has been hampered by the fact that many basic
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