Advancing Engineered Plant Living Materials through Tobacco BY-2 Cell Growth and Transfection within Tailored Granular Hydrogel Scaffolds.

In this study, an innovative approach is presented in the field of engineered plant living materials (EPLMs), leveraging a sophisticated interplay between synthetic biology and engineering. We detail a 3D bioprinting technique for the precise spatial patterning and genetic transformation of the tobacco BY-2 cell line within custom-engineered granular hydrogel scaffolds. Our methodology involves the integration of biocompatible hydrogel microparticles (HMPs) primed for 3D bioprinting with Agrobacterium tumefaciens capable of plant cell transfection, serving as the backbone for the simultaneous growth and transformation of tobacco BY-2 cells. This system facilitates the concurrent growth and genetic modification of tobacco BY-2 cells within our specially designed scaffolds. These scaffolds enable the cells to develop into predefined patterns while remaining conducive to the uptake of exogenous DNA. We showcase the versatility of this technology by fabricating EPLMs with unique structural and functional properties, exemplified by EPLMs exhibiting distinct pigmentation patterns. These patterns are achieved through the integration of the betalain biosynthetic pathway into tobacco BY-2 cells. Overall, our study represents a groundbreaking shift in the convergence of materials science and plant synthetic biology, offering promising avenues for the evolution of sustainable, adaptive, and responsive living material systems.

Photosynthetic Living Fiber Fabrication from Algal-Bacterial Consortia with Controlled Spatial Distribution.

Living materials that combine living cells and synthetic matrix materials have become promising research fields in recent years. While multicellular systems present exclusive benefits in developing living materials over single-cell systems, creating artificial multicellular systems can be challenging due to the difficulty in controlling the multicellular assemblies and the complexity of cell-to-cell interactions. Here, we propose a coculture platform capable of isolating and controlling the spatial distribution of algal-bacterial consortia, which can be utilized to construct photosynthetic living fibers. Through coaxial extrusion-based 3D printing, hydrogel fibers containing bacteria or algae can be deposited into designated structures and further processed into materials with precise geometries. In addition, the photosynthetic living fibers demonstrate a significant synergistic catalytic effect resulting from the immobilization of both bacteria and algae, which effectively optimizes sewage treatment for bioremediation purposes. The integration of microbial consortia and 3D printing yields functional living materials with promising applications in biocatalysis, biosensing, and biomedicine. Our approach provides an optimized solution for constructing efficient multicellular systems and opens a new avenue for the development of advanced materials.

Discovery of Arabidopsis UGT73C1 as a steviol-catalyzing UDP-glycosyltransferase with chemical probes.

Chemoselective and affinity-based probes of steviol were applied to the discovery of glycosyltransferase activity and corresponding UDP-glycosyltransferase in Arabidopsis thaliana, which illustrates a simple strategy for rapidly harnessing minable novel biological parts from plants for synthetic biology.

Chemical proteomics reveal CD147 as a functional target of pseudolaric acid B in human cancer cells.

CD147 is a glycosylated transmembrane protein highly expressed on the surface of various tumor cells which plays vital roles in tumor invasion, progression and metastasis. We report the discovery of the natural product pseudolaric acid B (PAB) directly targeting CD147 by chemical proteomics utilizing a PAB-derived photoaffinity probe which could serve as a novel type of anticancer reagent.