Good news! Amazing stuff!
"Researchers have developed a new method for preventing bacteria from adhering to surfaces, such as medical devices. It relies on the unique properties of resilin, a natural insect protein that enables fleas to jump hundreds of times their body length.
Resilin is a super-elastic protein produced by many insects, which enables them to jump and stretch their wings. It’s what enables some species of fleas, for example, to jump up to 200 times their body length. ...
One of the coatings, a coacervate, repelled 100% of bacteria, stopping them from attaching to surfaces while being non-toxic to human cells. A coacervate is a soft, spherical, nano-sized droplet made from proteins (resilin in this case) that clump together in water, forming a separate phase (like tiny blobs), which coats surfaces and influences how cells or bacteria interact with them. ..."
"The collaborative study led by researchers at RMIT University is the first reported use of antibacterial coatings made from resilin-mimetic proteins to fully block bacteria from attaching to a surface. ..."
From the abstract:
"The applications of responsive biomaterials for tuning cell-surface interactions have been recently explored due to their unique switchable characteristics. However, rational design of surfaces using suitable biomacromolecules to attain optimal physicochemical performance, biocompatibility, cell adhesion and anti-fouling properties is quite challenging.
Resilin-mimetic polypeptides (RMPs) are intrinsically disordered biomacromolecules that exhibit multi-stimuli responsive behaviour, including reversible dual-phase thermal behaviour forming self-assembled nano- to microstructures. However, there is a limited understanding of the effect of morphological features of RMP-based nanostructures, and their influence on surface properties.
Therefore, in this study, a family of responsive RMP-based nanostructured coatings (nano-coacervates, nanogels and nano-bioconjugates) are fabricated to investigate their various surface properties that influence cell-surface interactions. The effects of their physicochemical properties, such as conformation, packing density, charge, roughness, and stiffness, are investigated using atomic force microscopy, neutron scattering and reflectometry techniques. Biocompatibility and microbiological testing show that these nanostructured switchable responsive coatings can be applied to a wide range of substrates to modulate biofilm formation and attribute antimicrobial characteristics. The developed nanocoatings have the potential to find applications in many areas, including implantable medical devices, and drug delivery."
Insect protein blocks bacterial infection (original news release) "A protein that gives fleas their bounce has been used to boot out bacteria cells, with lab results demonstrating the material’s potential for preventing medical implant infection."
Nano-structured antibiofilm coatings based on recombinant resilin (no public access)
Graphical abstract
The coacervate resilin-mimetic coating on the base scaffold, magnified 4,000 times under a scanning electron microscope (SEM)
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