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Duraj-Thatte, Anna

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Duraj-Thatte

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Anna

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Duraj-Thatte, Anna
Author's Publications: search.filters.isAuthorOfPublication.33802344-d384-4dd7-ae96-b1f1a27c632e

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    Modulating bacterial and gut mucosal interactions with engineered biofilm matrix proteins
    (Nature Publishing Group UK, 2018) Duraj-Thatte, Anna; Praveschotinunt, Bom; Nash, Trevor R.; Ward, Frederick R.; Joshi, Neel
    Extracellular appendages play a significant role in mediating communication between bacteria and their host. Curli fibers are a class of bacterial fimbria that is highly amenable to engineering. We demonstrate the use of engineered curli fibers to rationally program interactions between bacteria and components of the mucosal epithelium. Commensal E. coli strains were engineered to produce recombinant curli fibers fused to the trefoil family of human cytokines. Biofilms formed from these strains bound more mucins than those producing wild-type curli fibers, and modulated mucin rheology as well. When treated with bacteria producing the curli-trefoil fusions mammalian cells behaved identically in terms of their migration behavior as when they were treated with the corresponding soluble trefoil factors. Overall, this demonstrates the potential utility of curli fibers as a scaffold for the display of bioactive domains and an untapped approach to rationally modulating host-microbe interactions using bacterial matrix proteins.
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    Scalable Production of Genetically Engineered Nanofibrous Macroscopic Materials via Filtration
    (American Chemical Society (ACS), 2016-10-26) Dorval Courchesne, Noemie-Manuelle; Duraj-Thatte, Anna; Tay, Pei Kun Richie Richie; Nguyen, Peter; Joshi, Neel
    As interest in using proteins to assemble functional, biocompatible and environmentally- friendly materials is growing, developing scalable protocols for producing recombinant proteins coupled to straightforward fabrication processes is becoming crucial. Here, we use E. coli bacteria to produce amyloid protein nanofibers that are key constituents of the biofilm extracellular matrix, and show that protein nanofiber aggregates can be purified using a fast and easily accessible vacuum filtration procedure. With their high resistance to heat, detergents, solvents and denaturing agents, engineered curli nanofibers remain functional throughout the rigorous processing, and can be used to assemble macroscopic materials. As a demonstration, we show that engineered curli nanofibers can be fabricated into self-standing films while maintaining the functionality of various fused domains that confer new specific binding activity to the material. We also demonstrate that purified curli fibers can be disassembled, reassembled into thin films, and recycled for further materials processing. We envision this scheme as an easily adoptable method for those interested in the scalable production of engineered protein- based materials.
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    Engineered Living Materials: Engineered Living Materials: Prospects and Challenges for Using Biological Systems to Direct the Assembly of Smart Materials
    (Wiley, 2018-05) Nguyen, Peter; Courchesne, Noémie-Manuelle Dorval; Duraj-Thatte, Anna; Praveschotinunt, Pichet; Joshi, Neel
    Vast potential exists for the development of novel, engineered platforms that manipulate biology for the production of programmed advanced materials. Such systems would possess the autonomous, adaptive, and self‐healing characteristics of living organisms, but would be engineered with the goal of assembling bulk materials with designer physicochemical or mechanical properties, across multiple length scales. Early efforts toward such engineered living materials (ELMs) are reviewed here, with an emphasis on engineered bacterial systems, living composite materials which integrate inorganic components, successful examples of large‐scale implementation, and production methods. In addition, a conceptual exploration of the fundamental criteria of ELM technology and its future challenges is presented. Cradled within the rich intersection of synthetic biology and self‐assembling materials, the development of ELM technologies allows the power of biology to be leveraged to grow complex structures and objects using a palette of bio‐nanomaterials.