[A new method for isolating gas vesicles from for ultrasound contrast].

Gas vesicles are a unique class of gas-filled protein nanostructures which are commonly found in cyanobacteria and . The gas vesicles may scatter sound waves and generate harmonic signals, which enabled them to have the potential to become a novel ultrasound contrast agent. However, the current hypertonic cracking method for isolating gas vesicles contains tedious operational procedures and is of low yield, thus not suitable for large-scale application. To overcome these technical challenges, we developed a rapid and efficient method for isolating gas vesicles from The new HO-based method increased the yield by three times and shortened the operation time from 24 hours to 7 hours. The HO method is not only suitable for isolation of gas vesicles from laboratory-cultured , but also suitable for colonial covered with gelatinous sheath The gas vesicles isolated by HO method showed good performance in ultrasound contrast imaging. In conclusion, this new method shows great potential for large-scale application due to its high efficiency and wide adaptability, and provides technical support for developing gas vesicles into a biosynthetic ultrasonic contrast agent.