Fig. 1: Engineered strains of C. crescentus self-assemble into BUD-ELMs.
From: A de novo matrix for macroscopic living materials from bacteria
a Schematic of the native rsaA gene within its genomic context, showing its N-terminal cell anchoring domain (rsaA1–250) and C-terminal domain (rsaA251–1026) with the secretion subdomain (rsaA690–1026) (top). Schematic of the construct replacing the native rsaA gene in the BUD-ELM strain (bottom). b Illustration of the redesigned external surface of C. crescentus. showing the BUD protein attached to the cell surface. Absolute dimensions and relative positions of objects are only meant for illustrative purposes. c Photograph of free-floating material formed by the BUD-ELM strain (left); the scale bar is 1 cm. Brightfield image of a portion of a BUD-ELM (right), showing cell clusters and intact cells; scale bar is 10 µm. d Confocal microscopy of single cells of BUD-ELM strain stained with SpyCatcher-GFP (left) or GFP (right), demonstrating that the BUD protein is located on the cell surface. The scale bar is 5 µm and applies to every image. e AFM images of the cell surface of wild-type (left), ∆rsaA (middle), and BUD-ELM strain (right), showing the brush-like structure of the BUD-ELM strain’s surface.
