Genetic Logic Gates Enable Patterning of Amyloid Nanofibers

Distinct spatial patterning of naturally produced materials is observed in many cellular structures and even among communities of microorganisms. Reoccurrence of spatially organized materials in all branches of life is clear proof that organization is beneficial for survival. Indeed, organisms can trick the evolutionary process by using organized materials in ways can help the organism to avoid unexpected conditions. To expand the toolbox for synthesizing patterned living materials, Boolean type AND and OR control of curli fibers expression is demonstrated using recombinases. Logic gates are designed to activate the production of curli fibers. The gates can be used to record the presence of input molecules and give output as CsgA expression. Two different curli fibers (CsgA and CsgA-His-tag) production are then selectively activated to explore distribution of monomers upon coexpression. To keep track of the composition of fibers, CsgA-His-tag proteins are labeled with nickel-nitrilotriacetic acid (Ni-NTA-) conjugated gold nanoparticles. It is observed that an organized living material can be obtained upon inducing the coexpression of different CsgA fibers. It is foreseen that living materials with user-defined curli composition hold great potential for the development of living materials for many biomedical applications.