Functional amyloid-chitin hybrid ink coupled with flexible fabrication approaches for diverse macro and micro-structures

Shicao Wei; Yingfeng Li; Ke Li; Anqi Kang; Siyu Zhang; Teng Feng; Hui Zhang; Chao Zhong

doi:10.1016/j.mtbio.2021.100179

Functional amyloid-chitin hybrid ink coupled with flexible fabrication approaches for diverse macro and micro-structures

Mater Today Bio. 2021 Dec 2:13:100179. doi: 10.1016/j.mtbio.2021.100179. eCollection 2022 Jan.

Authors

Shicao Wei¹, Yingfeng Li¹, Ke Li¹, Anqi Kang¹, Siyu Zhang¹, Teng Feng², Hui Zhang², Chao Zhong^{1

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Materials and Physical Biology Division, School of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, 201210, China.
² School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, 201210, China.
³ Center for Materials Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
⁴ CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.

Abstract

The precise fabrication of artificially designed molecular complexes into ordered structures resembling their natural counterparts would find broad applications but remains a major challenge in the field. Here we genetically design chitin-binding domain (CBD)-containing amyloid proteins, and rationally fabricate well-ordered CBD-containing functional amyloid-chitin complex structures by coupling a top-down manufacturing process with a bottom-up self-assembly. Our fabrication approach starts with the dissolution of both CBD-containing functional amyloid and chitin in hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) to make a hybrid ink. This hybrid ink platform, coupled with multiple fabrication methods including airbrushing, electrospinning and soft-lithography, produces a series of unique freestanding structures. The structural features of the products, such as the ability to direct the light path and mimicking of the extracellular matrix enable applications in functional light gratings and cell culture, respectively. Further genetic engineering of the protein component allowed tunable functionalization of these materials, including nanoparticle immobilization and protein conjugation, resulting in broad applications in electronic devices and enzyme immobilization. Our technological platform can drive new advances in biocatalysis, tissue engineering, biomedicine, photonics and electronics.

Keywords: Bio-fabrication; Composites; Functional amyloid; Polysaccharide; Protein Self-assembly.