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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2024.06.11.598525

Incorporating Microbial Pilin-Based Nanowires into a Water-Stable Electronic Polymer Composite

Sonawane, J. M.·Chia, E.·Ueki, T.·Greener, J.·Nonnenmann, S. S.·Yao, J.·Lovley, D. R.
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Abstract

Electrically conductive protein nanowires (e-PNs), microbially produced from a pilin monomer, are a novel, sustainable electronic material that can be genetically tailored for specific functions. e-PNs, expressed with Escherichia coli grown on the biodiesel byproduct glycerol, and mixed with polyvinyl butyral yielded a transparent, electrically conductive water-stable composite.Composite conductivity was adjusted by modifying the e-PN concentration or incorporating e-PNs genetically tuned for different conductivities. Electronic devices in which composites were the sensor component differentially responded to dissolved ammonia over a wide concentration range (1{micro}M-1M). Genetically modifying e-PNs to display an ammonia-binding peptide on their outer surface increased the sensor response to ammonia 10-fold. These results, coupled with the flexibility to design peptides for specific binding of diverse analytes, demonstrate that sustainably produced e-PNs offer the possibility of incorporating multiple sensor components, each specifically designed to detect different analytes with high sensitivity and selectivity, within one small sensor device.

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Sonawane, J. M., Chia, E., Ueki, T., Greener, J., Nonnenmann, S. S., Yao, J., Lovley, D. R.. 2024-06-13. Incorporating Microbial Pilin-Based Nanowires into a Water-Stable Electronic Polymer Composite. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.06.11.598525

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