Fig. 1: Synthetic adhesion toolkit for multicellular pattern assembly and cell–cell adhesion tuning library.
From: Programmable cell–cell adhesion in synthetic yeast communities for improved bioproduction
a, The model strain (007Δ) features seven gene deletions: FLO1, FLO5, FLO10 and FLO11 to prevent flocculation, and AGA1, AGA2 and SAG1 to eliminate the agglutinin system30,31,32,33,34. b, Spatial programming in a synthetic yeast coculture is achieved by expressing specific adhesion pairs in each strain. Strategy 1—yeast flocculation principle: one strain expressed the FLO1 gene, while the other expressed the FLO5 gene. Strategy 2.1—yeast agglutinin system utilization: cell 1 was engineered to express the SAG1 gene, whereas cell 2 expressed both AGA1 and AGA2 genes. Strategy 2.2—yeast surface display system application: in cell 1, the AcCoh, Ag3 and SpyTag genes were introduced, while in cell 2, the corresponding genes AcDoc, Nb3 and SpyCatcher were introduced. c, Intercellular binding strength and specificity are quantified through an aggregation assay based on OD600nm measurements. d, Visible aggregation and settling in 1:1 mixtures of cells expressing FLO1 or FLO5. e, Quantification of flocculation percentages across three adhesion pair systems, comparing aggregating mixtures to the adhesin-free control. n = 3 biologically independent samples and data are presented as mean ± s.d. Statistical analysis was executed using Prism 9.5.0 (GraphPad) software with one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), followed by Tukey’s post hoc test and P values were noted (FLO1co:control, P < 0.0001; FLO5co:control, P < 0.0001; SAG1–AGA1&2co:control, P = 0.0465; FLO5N–Anco:control, P = 0.0012; FLO5N–Spyco:control, P < 0.0001; FLO5C–Acco:control, P = 0.0005; FLO5C–Acco:control, P = 0.0072; FLO5N–Anco:FLO5Nco, P = 0.0263; FLO5N–Spyco: FLO5Nco, P = 0.0012). Schematic in c created with BioRender.com.
