Biological matrix composites from cultured plant cells
Abstract
We present an approach to fabricate biological matrix composites made entirely from cultured plant cells. We utilize the cell's innate ability to synthesize nanofibrillar cell walls, which serve as the composite's fundamental building blocks. Following a controlled compression/dehydration process, the cells arrange into lamellar structures with hierarchical features. We demonstrate that the native cell wall nanofibrils tether adjacent cells together through fibrillar interlocking and intermolecular hydrogen bonding. These interactions facilitate intercellular adhesion and eliminate the need for other binders. Our fabrication process utilizes the entire plant cell, grown in an in vitro culture; requires no harsh chemical treatments or waste-generating extraction or selection processes; and leads to bulk biocomposites that can be produced in situ and biodegrade in soil. The final mechanical properties are comparable to commodity plastics and can be further modulated by introducing filler particles.
Additional Information
© 2022 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. This article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND). Edited by Joanna Aizenberg, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; received November 6, 2021; accepted February 3, 2022. Published April 4, 2022. We thank Mr. M. Ladinsky, Dr. S. Amanatidis, Dr. A. M. Jimenez, Dr. Y.Wei,Dr. M. Mello,Mr. A. Carim, Ms. S. Antilla, and Mr.D. A.Nguyen for support in experiments.We thank Dr. R. Di Giacomo for useful discussions and Prof. N. Lewis for providing access to the Raman facilities.We thank Caltech Kavli Nanoscience Institute, Gordon and Betty Moore, and the Beckman Foundation for support of electron microscopy facilities and the Caltech Beckman Institute and the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation for supporting the laser scanning imaging facilities. This work was supported in part by the Resnick Sustainability Institute at Caltech. Author contributions: E.R., L.B., and C.D. designed research; E.R., R.H., L.B., A.V., and K.R. performed research; E.R. and A.V. analyzed data; and E.R. and C.D. wrote the paper. The authors declare no competing interest. Data Availability: All study data are included in the article and/or SI Appendix. This article contains supporting information online at https://www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.2119523119/-/DCSupplemental.Attached Files
Published - pnas.2119523119.pdf
Submitted - 1909.01926.pdf
Supplemental Material - pnas.2119523119.sapp.pdf
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Additional details
- Alternative title
- Plant cells-based biological matrix composites
- PMCID
- PMC9169740
- Eprint ID
- 98723
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20190918-130321479
- Kavli Nanoscience Institute
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
- Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation
- Resnick Sustainability Institute
- Created
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2019-09-18Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2023-07-06Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Kavli Nanoscience Institute, Resnick Sustainability Institute