Porous Microplates for Chemically Interactive Cell Culture

Microorganisms exchange information with each other and with their environments. Advanced co-culture techniques illuminate the importance of chemical diffusion between microorganisms. Existing techniques vary in complexity, degree of interaction, and experimental readout. We envision a culture platform that allows chemical exchange between wells while maintaining the simplicity of traditional multi-well plates. Herein we describe a microplate constructed of a porous co-polymer that allows multi-directional chemical exchange between spatially isolated culture wells. We use this microplate to culture a multi-member consortia of engineered E. coli and observe their response to six diffusing chemical inducers within the culture plate. We also demonstrate engineered quorum signaling and inhibitory peptide signaling between neighboring culture wells. These results imply the use of a porous microplate to study interacting liquid cell cultures. This platform can be applied toward designing engineered microbial consortia for distributed biosynthesis of therapeutics and other interesting compounds.