Engineered living materials (ELMs) design: From function allocation to dynamic behavior modulation

ElsevierVolume 70, October 2022, 102188Current Opinion in Chemical BiologyHighlights•

Introduction of endogenous or exogenous functional modules endows ELMs with emerging properties.

Programming cell–cell or cell–environment interactions enables dynamic living materials.

ELMs composed of multicellular consortia exhibit intrinsic advantages including resource sharing and division of labor.

Machine learning techniques accelerate the design of functional modules and genetic circuits for ELMs.

Abstract

Natural materials possess many distinctive “living” attributes, such as self-growth, self-healing, environmental responsiveness, and evolvability, that are beyond the reach of many existing synthetic materials. The emerging field of engineered living materials (ELMs) takes inspiration from nature and harnesses engineered living systems to produce dynamic and responsive materials with genetically programmable functionalities. Here, we identify and review two main directions for the rational design of ELMs: first, engineering of living materials with enhanced performances by incorporating functional material modules, including engineered biological building blocks (proteins, polysaccharides, and nucleic acids) or well-defined artificial materials; second, engineering of smart ELMs that can sense and respond to their surroundings by programming dynamic cellular behaviors regulated via cell–cell or cell–environment interactions. We next discuss the strengths and challenges of current ELMs and conclude by providing a perspective of future directions in this promising area.

Graphical abstract

Existing strategies for the design of engineered living materials (ELMs). Various chassis cells (bacterial, yeast, mammalian, and fungal cells) can be developed into ELMs through two design principles: functional module incorporation and dynamic behavior regulation. Functional module incorporation refers not only to the functional modification of endogenous biological building blocks (proteins, polysaccharides, and nucleic acids), but also to the combination of functional exogenous artificial materials (e.g., hydrogels, conductive materials, and nanoparticles) with living systems. Dynamic behavior regulation exploits the capacity of living systems to regulate their own behavior in response to cues from other cells or from the external environment, aiming at manufacturing advanced responsive and self-patterning living materials.Image 1Download : Download high-res image (247KB)Download : Download full-size image

Keywords

Engineered living materials (ELMs)

Synthetic biology

Responsive materials

Living composites

Multicellular consortia

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