Polymer Encapsulation of Bacterial Biosensors Enables Coculture with Mammalian Cells

• Published in: ACS synthetic biology Vol. 11; no. 3; pp. 1303 - 1312
• Main Authors: Moya-Ramírez, Ignacio, Kotidis, Pavlos, Marbiah, Masue, Kim, Juhyun, Kontoravdi, Cleo, Polizzi, Karen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 18.03.2022
• Subjects: Bacteria; Biosensing Techniques; Coculture Techniques; Escherichia coli - metabolism; Polymers - metabolism; coculture; biosensor; bacteria; mammalian cells; hydrogel encapsulation; l-lactate
• ISSN: 2161-5063; 2161-5063
• DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.1c00577

Coexistence of different populations of cells and isolation of tasks can provide enhanced robustness and adaptability or impart new functionalities to a culture. However, generating stable cocultures involving cells with vastly different growth rates can be challenging. To address this, we developed living analytics in a multilayer polymer shell (LAMPS), an encapsulation method that facilitates the coculture of mammalian and bacterial cells. We leverage LAMPS to preprogram a separation of tasks within the coculture: growth and therapeutic protein production by the mammalian cells and l-lactate biosensing by Escherichia coli encapsulated within LAMPS. LAMPS enable the formation of a synthetic bacterial–mammalian cell interaction that enables a living biosensor to be integrated into a biomanufacturing process. Our work serves as a proof-of-concept for further applications in bioprocessing since LAMPS combine the simplicity and flexibility of a bacterial biosensor with a viable method to prevent runaway growth that would disturb mammalian cell physiology.