Full-colour Jabuticaba-like nanostructures via the multiplex and orthogonal self-assembly of protein-conjugated quantum dots with engineered biofilms

Abstract

The integration of inorganic components with bacterial biofilms is of great significance for expanding the functionality of artificial biological materials. However, so far, the complexities and functionalities of biofilm-based scaffolds assembled via metal–peptide coordination chemistries remain limited. Here, we present a platform for the multiplexed and specific coupling of recombinant protein-functionalized fluorescent red-green-blue (RGB) quantum dots (QDs) with engineered biofilms to form Jabuticaba-like nanostructures. Full-color living Jabuticaba-like nanostructures have been achieved through the interaction of extracellular peptides that are fabricated by biofilms with the proteins that modify the surface of the RGB QDs through orthogonal SpyTag/SpyCatcher, IsopeptagN/PilinN, and IsopeptagC/PilinC pairs. We envision that living cell populations will enable the multiplexable, scalable and bottom-up assembly of versatile materials that integrate both abiotic and biotic components into multifunctional systems.