Macroscopic Assembly\nof Materials with Engineered\nBacterial Spores via Coiled-Coil Interaction

Herein, we report macroscopic materials formed by the\nassembly\nof engineered bacterial spores. Spores were engineered by using a\nT7-driven expression system to display a high density of pH-responsive\nself-associating proteins on their surface. The engineered surface\nprotein on the spore surface enabled pH-dependent binding at the protein\nlevel and enabled the assembly of granular materials. Mechanical properties\nremained largely constant with changing pH, but erosion stability\nwas pH-dependent in a manner consistent with the pH-dependent interaction\nbetween the engineered surface proteins. Our finding utilizes synthetic\nbiology for the design of macroscopic materials and illuminates the\nimpact of coiled-coil interaction across various length scales.