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Dupin A, Aufinger L, Styazhkin I, Rothfischer F, Kaufmann BK, Schwarz S, Galensowske N, Clausen-Schaumann H, Simmel FC. Synthetic cell-based materials extract positional information from morphogen gradients. Sci Adv 2022; 8:eabl9228. [PMID: 35394842 PMCID: PMC8993112 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abl9228] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2021] [Accepted: 02/17/2022] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
Biomaterials composed of synthetic cells have the potential to adapt and differentiate guided by physicochemical environmental cues. Inspired by biological systems in development, which extract positional information (PI) from morphogen gradients in the presence of uncertainties, we here investigate how well synthetic cells can determine their position within a multicellular structure. To calculate PI, we created and analyzed a large number of synthetic cellular assemblies composed of emulsion droplets connected via lipid bilayer membranes. These droplets contained cell-free feedback gene circuits that responded to gradients of a genetic inducer acting as a morphogen. PI is found to be limited by gene expression noise and affected by the temporal evolution of the morphogen gradient and the cell-free expression system itself. The generation of PI can be rationalized by computational modeling of the system. We scale our approach using three-dimensional printing and demonstrate morphogen-based differentiation in larger tissue-like assemblies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aurore Dupin
- Physics Department (E14), TU Munich, 85748 Garching, Germany
| | - Lukas Aufinger
- Physics Department (E14), TU Munich, 85748 Garching, Germany
| | - Igor Styazhkin
- Physics Department (E14), TU Munich, 85748 Garching, Germany
| | | | - Benedikt K. Kaufmann
- Center for NanoScience (CeNS), Schellingstraße 4, 80799 Munich, Germany
- Center for Applied Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine-CANTER, Munich University of Applied Sciences, Lothstrasse 34, 80335 Munich, Germany
- Heinz-Nixdorf-Chair of Biomedical Electronics, TranslaTUM, TU Munich, 81675 Munich, Germany
| | - Sascha Schwarz
- Center for NanoScience (CeNS), Schellingstraße 4, 80799 Munich, Germany
- Center for Applied Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine-CANTER, Munich University of Applied Sciences, Lothstrasse 34, 80335 Munich, Germany
| | | | - Hauke Clausen-Schaumann
- Center for NanoScience (CeNS), Schellingstraße 4, 80799 Munich, Germany
- Center for Applied Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine-CANTER, Munich University of Applied Sciences, Lothstrasse 34, 80335 Munich, Germany
| | - Friedrich C. Simmel
- Physics Department (E14), TU Munich, 85748 Garching, Germany
- Corresponding author.
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Becke TD, Ness S, Kaufmann BK, Hartmann B, Schilling AF, Sudhop S, Hilleringmann M, Clausen-Schaumann H. Pilus-1 Backbone Protein RrgB of Streptococcus pneumoniae Binds Collagen I in a Force-Dependent Way. ACS Nano 2019; 13:7155-7165. [PMID: 31184856 DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.9b02587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Attachment to host tissue is a prerequisite for successful host colonization and invasion of pathogens. Many pathogenic bacteria use surface appendices, called pili, to bind and firmly attach to host tissue surfaces. Although it has been speculated that the laterally positioned D3 domain of the pilus-1 backbone protein RrgB of Streptococcus pneumoniae may promote bacterial-host interaction, via adhesion to extracellular matrix molecules, such as collagen, earlier studies showed no affinity of RrgB to collagen I. Using atomic force microscopy-based single molecule force spectroscopy combined with lateral force microscopy, we show that under mechanical load, RrgB in fact binds to human collagen I in a force-dependent manner. We observe exceptionally strong interactions, with interaction forces reaching as much as 1500 pN, and we show that high force loading and shearing rates enhance and further strengthen the interaction. In addition, the affinity of RrgB to collagen I under mechanical load not only depends on the orientation of the D3 domain but also on the orientation of the collagen fibrils, relative to the pulling direction. Both exceptionally high binding forces and force-induced bond strengthening resemble the behavior of so-called catch bonds, which have recently been observed in bacterial adhesins, but have not been reported for multimeric backbone subunits of virulence related pili.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tanja D Becke
- Center for Applied Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine , Munich University of Applied Sciences , 80335 Munich , Germany
- Center for NanoScience , Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München , 80799 Munich , Germany
| | - Stefan Ness
- FG Protein Biochemistry and Cellular Microbiology , Munich University of Applied Sciences , 80335 Munich , Germany
| | - Benedikt K Kaufmann
- Center for Applied Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine , Munich University of Applied Sciences , 80335 Munich , Germany
- Center for NanoScience , Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München , 80799 Munich , Germany
| | - Bastian Hartmann
- Center for Applied Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine , Munich University of Applied Sciences , 80335 Munich , Germany
- Center for NanoScience , Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München , 80799 Munich , Germany
| | - Arndt F Schilling
- Clinic for Trauma Surgery, Orthopaedics, and Plastic Surgery , University Medical Center Göttingen , 37075 Göttingen , Germany
| | - Stefanie Sudhop
- Center for Applied Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine , Munich University of Applied Sciences , 80335 Munich , Germany
- Center for NanoScience , Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München , 80799 Munich , Germany
| | - Markus Hilleringmann
- FG Protein Biochemistry and Cellular Microbiology , Munich University of Applied Sciences , 80335 Munich , Germany
| | - Hauke Clausen-Schaumann
- Center for Applied Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine , Munich University of Applied Sciences , 80335 Munich , Germany
- Center for NanoScience , Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München , 80799 Munich , Germany
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