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Engineered biological nanofactories trigger quorum sensing response in targeted bacteria

Nature Nanotechnology volume 5, pages 213–217 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

Biological nanofactories, which are engineered to contain modules that can target, sense and synthesize molecules, can trigger communication between different bacterial populations. These communications influence biofilm formation1,2, virulence3,4, bioluminescence5,6 and many other bacterial functions7,8 in a process called quorum sensing9. Here, we show the assembly of a nanofactory that can trigger a bacterial quorum sensing response in the absence of native quorum molecules. The nanofactory comprises an antibody (for targeting) and a fusion protein that produces quorum molecules when bound to the targeted bacterium. Our nanofactory selectively targets the appropriate bacteria and triggers a quorum sensing response when added to two populations of bacteria. The nanofactories also trigger communication between two bacterial populations that are otherwise non-communicating. We envision the use of these nanofactories in generating new antimicrobial treatments that target the communication networks of bacteria rather than their viability.

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Figure 1: Engineered biological nanofactories trigger a quorum sensing response in targeted bacteria.
Figure 2: Nanofactories effectively target bacteria in pure cultures and trigger their quorum sensing response.
Figure 3: Nanofactories demonstrate that bacteria trigger a quorum sensing response within a window of AI-2 concentrations.
Figure 4: Nanofactories selectively target a specific population in bacterial co-cultures.
Figure 5: Nanofactories selectively trigger a quorum sensing response in bacterial co-cultures.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank B.L. Bassler for generously providing S. typhimurium MET715, Helim Aranda-Espinoza for providing access to microscopy facilities and T.A Dunn for his help in conducting the flow cytometry studies. Funding for this work was provided in part by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), the National Science Foundation and the R.W. Deutsch Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, 20742, Maryland, USA

    Rohan Fernandes, Hsuan-Chen Wu & William E. Bentley

  2. Center for Biosystems Research, University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, College Park, 20742, Maryland, USA

    Rohan Fernandes, Varnika Roy, Hsuan-Chen Wu & William E. Bentley

  3. Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, 20742, Maryland, USA

    Varnika Roy

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  1. Rohan Fernandes
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Contributions

R.F., V.R., H.- C.W. and W.E.B. all planned and designed the experiments. R.F., V.R. and H.-C.W. performed the experiments. R.F. and W.E.B. wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to William E. Bentley.

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Fernandes, R., Roy, V., Wu, HC. et al. Engineered biological nanofactories trigger quorum sensing response in targeted bacteria. Nature Nanotech 5, 213–217 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2009.457

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