Tailoring the whole-cell sensing spectrum with cyborgian redox machinery.

Whole-cell biosensors are an important class of analytical tools that offer the advantages of low cost, facile operation, and unique reproduction/regeneration ability. However, it has always been quite challenging to expand the sensing spectrum of the host. Here, a new approach to extend the cell sensing spectrum with biomineralized nanoparticles is developed.

Cytochrome C catalyzed oxygen tolerant atom-transfer radical polymerization.

Atom-transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) is a well-known technique for controlled polymer synthesis. However, the ATRP usually employed toxic heavy metal ionas as the catalyst and was susceptible to molecular oxygen, which made it should be conducted under strictly anoxic condition. Conducting ATRP under ambient and biocompatible conditions is the major challenge.

Engineered cytochrome fused extracellular matrix enabled efficient extracellular electron transfer and improved performance of microbial fuel cell.

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) was a promising technology for energy harvesting from wastewater. However, inefficient bacterial extracellular electron transfer (EET) limited the performance as well as the applications of MFC. Here, a new strategy to reinforce the EET by engineering synthetic extracellular matrix (ECM) with cytochrome fused curli was developed.