Nanoprogrammed Cross-Kingdom Communication Between Living Microorganisms

The engineering of chemical communication at the micro/nanoscale is a key emergent topic in micro/nanotechnology, synthetic biology, and related areas. However, the field is still in its infancy; previous advances, although scarce, have mainly focused on communication between abiotic micro/nanosystems or between microvesicles and living cells. Here, we have implemented a nanoprogrammed cross-kingdom communication involving two different microorganisms and tailor-made nanodevices acting as nanotranslators. Information flows from the sender cells (bacteria) to the nanodevice and from the nanodevice to receiver cells (yeasts) in a hierarchical way, allowing communication between two microorganisms that otherwise would not interact.

Automated summary

The engineering of chemical communication at the micro/nanoscale is an important topic in micro/nanotechnology and synthetic biology, but it is still in its early stages. Previous studies have mostly focused on communication between abiotic systems or between microvesicles and living cells. This study presents a novel approach to achieve cross-kingdom communication between two different microorganisms using tailor-made nanodevices as nanotranslators.