Engineering a biospecific communication pathway between cells and electrodes
- Department of Chemistry and Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, University of Chicago, 5735 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637
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Edited by George M. Whitesides, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, and approved December 5, 2005 (received for review May 26, 2005)
Abstract
Methods for transducing the cellular activities of mammalian cells into measurable electronic signals are important in many biotechnical applications, including biosensors, cell arrays, and other cell-based devices. This manuscript describes an approach for functionally integrating cellular activities and electrical processes in an underlying substrate. The cells are engineered with a cell-surface chimeric receptor that presents the nonmammalian enzyme cutinase. Action of this cell-surface cutinase on enzyme substrate self-assembled monolayers switches a nonelectroactive hydroxyphenyl ester to an electroactive hydroquinone, providing an electrical activity that can be identified with cyclic voltammetry. In this way, cell-surface enzymatic activity is transduced into electronic signals. The development of strategies to directly interface the activities of cells with materials will be important to enabling a broad class of hybrid microsystems that combine living and nonliving components.
Footnotes
- †To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mmrksich{at}uchicago.edu
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↵*Present address: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, 2901 Campus Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0048.
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Author contributions: J.H.C. and M.M. designed research; J.H.C. performed research; J.H.C. and M.M. analyzed data; and J.H.C. and M.M. wrote the paper.
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Conflict of interest statement: No conflicts declared.
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This paper was submitted directly (Track II) to the PNAS office.
- Abbreviations:
- SAM,
- self-assembled monolayer;
- CHO,
- Chinese hamster ovary;
- HA,
- hemagglutinin
Abbreviations:
- © 2006 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA
