IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v13y2022i1d10.1038_s41467-022-31633-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Synthetic phosphoethanolamine-modified oligosaccharides reveal the importance of glycan length and substitution in biofilm-inspired assemblies

Author

Listed:
  • Theodore Tyrikos-Ergas

    (Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces
    Freie Universität Berlin)

  • Soeun Gim

    (Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces
    Freie Universität Berlin)

  • Jhih-Yi Huang

    (Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces
    Freie Universität Berlin)

  • Sandra Pinzón Martín

    (Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces
    Freie Universität Berlin)

  • Daniel Varón Silva

    (Freie Universität Berlin
    University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland)

  • Peter H. Seeberger

    (Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces
    Freie Universität Berlin)

  • Martina Delbianco

    (Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces)

Abstract

Bacterial biofilm matrices are nanocomposites of proteins and polysaccharides with remarkable mechanical properties. Efforts understanding and tuning the protein component have been extensive, whereas the polysaccharide part remained mostly overlooked. The discovery of phosphoethanolamine (pEtN) modified cellulose in E. coli biofilms revealed that polysaccharide functionalization alters the biofilm properties. To date, the pattern of pEtN cellulose and its mode of interactions with proteins remains elusive. Herein, we report a model system based on synthetic epitomes to explore the role of pEtN in biofilm-inspired assemblies. Nine pEtN-modified oligosaccharides were synthesized with full control over the length, degree and pattern of pEtN substitution. The oligomers were co-assembled with a representative peptide, triggering the formation of fibers in a length dependent manner. We discovered that the pEtN pattern modulates the adhesion of biofilm-inspired matrices, while the peptide component controls its stiffness. Unnatural oligosaccharides tune or disrupt the assembly morphology, revealing interesting targets for polysaccharide engineering to develop tunable bio-inspired materials.

Suggested Citation

  • Theodore Tyrikos-Ergas & Soeun Gim & Jhih-Yi Huang & Sandra Pinzón Martín & Daniel Varón Silva & Peter H. Seeberger & Martina Delbianco, 2022. "Synthetic phosphoethanolamine-modified oligosaccharides reveal the importance of glycan length and substitution in biofilm-inspired assemblies," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-31633-5
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31633-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-31633-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-022-31633-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Itxaso Anso & Samira Zouhir & Thibault Géry Sana & Petya Violinova Krasteva, 2024. "Structural basis for synthase activation and cellulose modification in the E. coli Type II Bcs secretion system," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-31633-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.