The purple bacteria Rhodobacter sphaeroides was employed as a model for the imprinting of microorganisms.

R. sphaeroides was first adsorbed on a glass slide as the stamp and then microcontact-imprinted onto poly(ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol), EVAL.

The surfaces of the R. sphaeroides-imprinted (RsIPs) and non-imprinted (NIPs) EVAL thin films were examined by Raman spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy.

The expression of the nitrogen fixation of nitrogenase (nifH) gene of Rhodobacter sphaeroides adsorbed on both the RsIPs and NIPs EVAL thin films was also measured by the quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR).

Cells grown on imprinted polymer showed dramatic differences in gene expression from controls.