Programming cellular condensates for living materials using an intrinsically disordered protein display platform

Self-organization of multicellular systems is vital for building structure in living system but remains underexplored in engineered living materials. We developed iDP2, a platform enabling high-density display of intrinsically disordered proteins on the surface of E. coli using CsgF as a surface-bound anchor protein to which other protein domains can be fused. Display depends on a lack of intrinsic structure and enable multivalent weak interactions that drive environmental responsiveness and sequence-programmable self-segregation. iDP2 allow the programming of material properties like viscoelasticity, stability, offering a method to rationally control cell-cell interactions. This approach could be applied to engineer self-organizing tissues or materials with customized properties.