Nguyen Peter Q
Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, U.S.A.
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
Biochem Soc Trans. 2017 Jun 15;45(3):585-597. doi: 10.1042/BST20160348.
Bottom-up fabrication of nanoscale materials has been a significant focus in materials science for expanding our technological frontiers. This assembly concept, however, is old news to biology - all living organisms fabricate themselves using bottom-up principles through a vast self-organizing system of incredibly complex biomolecules, a marvelous dynamic that we are still attempting to unravel. Can we use what we have gleaned from biology thus far to illuminate alternative strategies for designer nanomaterial manufacturing? In the present review article, new synthetic biology efforts toward using bacterial biofilms as platforms for the synthesis and secretion of programmable nanomaterials are described. Particular focus is given to self-assembling functional amyloids found in bacterial biofilms as re-engineerable modular nanomolecular components. Potential applications and existing challenges for this technology are also explored. This novel approach for repurposing biofilm systems will enable future technologies for using engineered living systems to grow artificial nanomaterials.
自下而上制造纳米级材料一直是材料科学的一个重要关注点，以拓展我们的技术前沿。然而，这种组装概念对生物学来说已是老生常谈——所有生物都通过一个由极其复杂的生物分子构成的庞大自组织系统，利用自下而上的原理构建自身，这一奇妙的动态过程我们仍在试图解开。我们能否利用迄今从生物学中获得的知识来阐明设计纳米材料制造的替代策略呢？在本综述文章中，描述了利用细菌生物膜作为合成和分泌可编程纳米材料平台的新合成生物学努力。特别关注了在细菌生物膜中发现的可自组装功能性淀粉样蛋白，它们是可重新设计的模块化纳米分子组件。还探讨了该技术的潜在应用和现有挑战。这种重新利用生物膜系统的新方法将为未来利用工程化生命系统生长人造纳米材料的技术提供可能。
