Steady redox and energy homeostasis enabled by photocatalytic material-microbial interfaces

Microbial-material interfaces offer a promising future in sustainable and efficient chemical-energy conversions, yet the impacts of these artificial interfaces to the microbial metabolisms remain unclear. Here, we conducted detailed proteomic and metabolomic analyses to study the regulations of microbial metabolism induced by the photocatalytic material-microbial interfaces, especially the intracellular redox and energy homeostasis which are vital for sustaining cell activity. Firstly, we learned that the materials have a heavier weight in perturbing microbial metabolism and inducing distinctive biological pathways, like the expression of metal-resisting system, than light stimulations. Furthermore, we observed that the materials-microbe interfaces are capable of maintaining the delicate redox balance and the energetic status of the microbial cells, whereas the intracellular redox cofactors and energy currencies show stable levels as naturally inoculated microbes. These observations assure the possibility of energizing microbial activities with artificial materials-microbe interfaces for diverse applications, and also, provide guides for future designs of materials-microbe hybrids to guard microbial activities.