@misc{10481/112805,
year = {2026},
month = {4},
url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10481/112805},
abstract = {Achieving stable and reproducible microbial co-cultures requires tools to control the population balance among species. To address this challenge, here we present an effective method for microbial encapsulation relying on alginate-core hydrogel beads coated with an alternating ε-poly-l-lysine/alginate multilayer shell (εPLL-HB). This procedure combines two features that are rarely reported together: (i) the complete containment of several microbial species (prokaryotic and eukaryotic) under diverse conditions, while (ii) supporting their controlled growth inside the εPLL-HB. The lack of cell leakage from the capsules is often overlooked and has only been achieved with shells prepared by polymerization reactions. In contrast, εPLL-HB manufacturing is simpler and biocompatible, only relying on non-covalent interactions. In this regard, εPLL showed better performance than chitosan and α-poly-l-lysine, two of the biomaterials most used as coating agents in core-shell encapsulation. Therefore, εPLL-HB allowed us to build spatially distributed co-cultures, effectively balancing populations of microorganisms with different growth rates and interactions. We also demonstrate that εPLL-HB are scalable to stirred-tank bioreactor cultures, proving their utility in large-scale applications. Furthermore, microbial-loaded εPLL-HB maintained their encapsulation efficacy and cell viability after long-term storage at −80 °C and provided protection against toxic compounds in lignocellulosic-derived media. The superior microbial containment, scalability, structural integrity, and chemical resistance of εPLL-HB, combined with their cost-effective and simple preparation, make them a versatile tool for engineering synthetic microbial consortia, with broad applicability in biotechnological processes.},
organization = {MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and NextGenerationEU/PRTR (TED2021-131194 A-I00)},
organization = {MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by ESF+ (RYC2022-037570-I)},
organization = {Universidad de Granada / CBUA},
publisher = {Elsevier},
keywords = {ε-Poly-l-lysine},
keywords = {Core-shell microbial encapsulation},
keywords = {Microbial co-cultures},
title = {Complete microbial encapsulation within alginate-εPLL core-shell hydrogel beads enables spatially distributed co-cultures and bioreactor scale-up},
doi = {10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2026.151706},
author = {Amaro-Cruz, Alba and Carmona-Bravo, Juana M. and García Román, Miguel and Moya-Ramírez, Ignacio},
}