A Bioinspired Versatile Spore Coat Nanomaterial for Oral Probiotics Delivery

A fundamental challenge in probiotic therapy is effective delivery and rapid colonization of probiotics; however, the physiological structure of probiotic spores provides an interesting idea to address this problem. Herein, the spore coat is innovatively prepared into a type of versatile spore coat nanomaterial (CN) which is subsequently anchored to the surface of probiotics to form CN-coated probiotics. The CN retains the characteristics of high resistance and natural affinity of spore coats, which serve as the "armor" for the enhancement of the probiotics delivery. Moreover, CN is beneficial for the explosive proliferation and competitive colonization of probiotics. Notably, it is found that not only CN used solely has good anti-inflammatory effect, but also it can significantly improve the functions of probiotics such as microbiome regulation, gut barrier integrity and tumor prevention. This work provides a simple and universal strategy that may guide the development of nanomaterial and material-based microecological agents.