Engineered Biofilm Coating with Ordered Mussel Foot Protein Assembly for Robust Adhesion and Corrosion Protection

ABSTRACT Marine corrosion poses a significant threat to marine operations, causing safety risks and economic losses. Beneficial biofilms offer a sustainable and eco‐friendly anti‐corrosion strategy, but they face challenges of weak metal adhesion and easy detachment. Herein, an Escherichia coli biofilm is engineered to overexpress extracellular amyloid, and SpyTag‐SpyCatcher interactions are utilized to programmatically assemble mussel foot proteins, resulting in the fabrication of a highly adhesive, corrosion‐resistant biofilm coating–CsgA‐L‐MFP coating. After 7 d immersion in simulated seawater, the corrosion rate of X70 carbon steel decreases from 2.2 × 10 ‒1 mm a ‒1 for an uncoated surface to 3.2 × 10 ‒2 mm a ‒1 with CsgA‐L‐MFP coating. Similarly, the corrosion current density ( i corr ) decreases from 64.8 ± 7.4 to 11.5 ± 2.9 µA cm ‒2 , achieving a corrosion inhibition efficiency of 82%. Besides, the CsgA‐L‐MFP coating effectively inhibits microbiologically influenced corrosion caused by Shewanella oneidensis for X70 carbon steel and increases pitting potential of 316L stainless steel, reducing i corr by 69%, demonstrating its application potential in the biodiverse marine environment. The application of synthetic biology in developing living biofilm coatings offers a novel strategy for functional and sustainable surface protection, with promising applications in marine engineering and other fields.