Hirschi Stephan, Stauffer Mirko, Harder Daniel, Müller Daniel J, Meier Wolfgang, Fotiadis Dimitrios
Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of Bern, Bühlstrasse 28, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland.
Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zürich, CH-4058 Basel, Switzerland.
Chimia (Aarau). 2016;70(6):398-401. doi: 10.2533/chimia.2016.398.
Synthetic biology approaches range from the introduction of unique features into organisms to the assembly of isolated biomacromolecules or synthetic building blocks into artificial biological systems with biomimetic or completely novel functionalities. Simple molecular systems can be based on containers on the nanoscale that are equipped with tailored functional modules for various applications in healthcare, industry or biological and medical research. The concept, or vision, of assembling native or engineered proteins and/or synthetic components as functional modules into molecular systems is discussed. The main focus is laid on the engineering of energizing modules generating chemical energy, transport modules using this energy to translocate molecules between compartments of a molecular system, and catalytic modules (bio-)chemically processing the molecules. Further key aspects of this discourse are possible approaches for the assembly of simple nanofactories and their applications in biotechnology and medical health.
合成生物学方法涵盖从将独特特征引入生物体到将分离的生物大分子或合成构建块组装成具有仿生或全新功能的人工生物系统。简单的分子系统可以基于纳米级的容器，这些容器配备有用于医疗保健、工业或生物医学研究中各种应用的定制功能模块。本文讨论了将天然或工程化蛋白质和/或合成组件作为功能模块组装到分子系统中的概念或愿景。主要重点在于产生化学能的供能模块的工程设计、利用这种能量在分子系统的隔室之间转运分子的运输模块以及对分子进行（生物）化学处理的催化模块。本论述的其他关键方面是简单纳米工厂的组装可能方法及其在生物技术和医疗健康中的应用。
