Coupling pH-Responsive Dyes to Agarose Hydrogels for Monitoring Metabolic States of Encapsulated Phototrophic Microbial Consortia.

ABSTRACT: The interaction of microbial consortia within biofilms leads to emergent properties such as high resistance to environmental fluctuations, efficient biocatalytic performance, and stable metabolic states. However, the mechanisms governing these interactions are hard to capture and are not fully understood. Agarose has proven to be a good mimic of the extracellular polymeric substance, which is the polymeric matrix supporting the connectivity of microbial consortia within biofilms. We aimed at modifying polymeric agarose to generate in situ sensing functionalities for monitoring metabolic states within the encapsulated microbial consortia. For that, agarose was end-on chemically modified to couple the pH-responsive FAM dye. After reconstitution of hydrogels out of the functionalized a

SUBMITTER: Ueberham M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12709568 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature