Direct attachment of microbial organisms to material surfaces through sequence-specific DNA hybridization.

A new technique is reported for the attachment of synthetic DNA strands to the surfaces of microbial organisms. This gives algal, bacterial, and fungal cells the ability to bind to complementary strands extending from patterned surfaces that can be produced on platforms such as microfluidic devices. The ability of this method to establish complex 2- and 3-dimensional cocultures comprising multiple organism types is also presented.