Programmable Living Materials Constructed with Dynamic Covalent Interface between Synthetic Polymers and B. subtilis

With advances in the field of synthetic biology increasingly allowing us to engineer living cells to perform intricate tasks, incorporating these engineered cells into the design of synthetic polymeric materials will enable programming materials with a wide range of biological functionalities. However, employable strategies for the design of synthetic polymers that seamlessly integrate cellular functionalities in materials are still largely limited. Herein, we report the first example of programmable living materials constructed with a dynamic covalent interface between designed synthetic polymers and engineered B. subtilis cells. We identified a molecular motif that forms reversible dynamic covalent bonds on B. subtilis cell surface. Combining block copolymers bearing this motif with genetically engineered B. subtilis yields programmable living materials that can be equipped with functionalities such as biosensing and on-demand elution of recombinant proteins. We further demonstrated that encapsulated cells could be reversibly retrieved and subjected to biological analyses. This work advances the current capabilities in engineered living materials, establishes the groundwork for building a myriad of synthetic polymeric materials integrating engineered living cells, and provides a platform for understanding the biology of cells confined within materials.