Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA.
Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA.
Nat Commun. 2020 Jun 2;11(1):2708. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-16151-6.
Although many animals have evolved intrinsic transparency for the purpose of concealment, the development of dynamic, that is, controllable and reversible, transparency for living human cells and tissues has remained elusive to date. Here, by drawing inspiration from the structures and functionalities of adaptive cephalopod skin cells, we design and engineer human cells that contain reconfigurable protein-based photonic architectures and, as a result, possess tunable transparency-changing and light-scattering capabilities. Our findings may lead to the development of unique biophotonic tools for applications in materials science and bioengineering and may also facilitate an improved understanding of a wide range of biological systems.
虽然许多动物已经进化出内在的透明度来达到隐藏的目的，但至今仍难以开发出用于活的人类细胞和组织的动态，即可控和可逆的透明度。在这里，我们从自适应头足类动物皮肤细胞的结构和功能中汲取灵感，设计和构建了包含可重构蛋白质光子结构的人类细胞，从而具有可调谐的透明度变化和光散射能力。我们的研究结果可能会为材料科学和生物工程中的应用开发独特的生物光子工具，并有助于更好地理解广泛的生物系统。
