Catalytic Materials Enabled by a Programmable Assembly of Synthetic Polymers and Engineered Bacterial Spores

Natural biological materials are formed by self-assemblyprocessesand catalyze a myriad of reactions. Here, we report a programmablemolecular assembly of designed synthetic polymers with engineeredbacterial spores. This self-assembly process is driven by dynamiccovalent bond formation on spore surface glycan and yields macroscopicmaterials that are structurally stable, self-healing, and recyclable.Molecular programming of polymer species shapes the physical propertiesof these materials while metabolically dormant spores allow for prolongedambient storage. Incorporation of spores with genetically encodedfunctionalities enables operationally simple and repeated enzymaticcatalysis. Our work combines molecular and genetic engineering tooffer scalable and programmable synthesis of robust materials forsustainable biocatalysis.

Automated summary

We report a programmable molecular assembly of synthetic polymers with engineered bacterial spores, driven by dynamic covalent bond formation on spore surface glycan. The resulting materials are structurally stable, self-healing, and recyclable. The incorporation of genetically encoded functionalities allows for simple and repeated enzymatic catalysis.