Prospects of manipulating diatom silica nanostructure
Prospects of manipulating diatom silica nanostructure
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DOI：
10.1166/jnn.2005.013
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发表时间：
2005-01-01
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Hildebrand, M
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Hildebrand, M
纳米技术发展的一个关键将是能够以低成本和大量制造复杂的纳米级三维结构。硅藻硅化细胞壁中的各种结构为这类材料提供了一个很有前途的天然来源。硅藻二氧化硅可以转化为其他材料，但保持详细的形态。为了促进硅藻在纳米技术中的应用，在体内对该结构进行特定的操作将是可取的。本文探讨了通过非遗传和遗传手段操纵硅藻二氧化硅结构的可能性。影响二氧化硅结构的非遗传影响包括环境条件和生命周期阶段的变化以及特定化合物的存在或不存在。不同硅藻物种在结构上基于遗传的自然差异表明，遗传操作是可能的。然而，要实现这一目标，必须实现几个目标。第一个是确定参与结构形成的细胞壁合成(CWS)基因。最近完成的假海链霉菌基因组序列为实现这一目标的基因组学和蛋白质组学方法打开了大门。确定CWS基因功能的一个重要方法是修饰基因序列或表达，并监测其对结构的影响。进行基因修改很简单，修改后的基因可以被引入硅藻中，但目前无法用修改后的副本取代天然的硅藻基因可能是一个问题。然而，仍有一些可行的方法尚未应用于实现这一目标。分子遗传学技术的不断发展和应用很有可能使我们能够对硅藻硅化结构进行特定的修饰，并提供对其形成的潜在机制的详细了解。
A key to the development of nanotechnology will be the ability to make complex nanoscaled three-dimensional structures at low cost and in large numbers. The wide variety of structures in the silicified cell walls of diatoms offers a promising natural source of such materials. Diatom silica can be converted into other materials, with maintenance of detailed morphology. To facilitate the use of diatoms in nanotechnology, specific manipulation of the structure in vivo will be desirable. This article explores the possibilities of manipulating diatom silica structure, by nongenetic and genetic means. Nongenetic influences that affect silica structure include changes in environmental conditions and life cycle stages and the presence or absence of particular compounds. The genetically based natural variation in structure in different diatom species indicates that genetic manipulation is possible. To achieve this, however, several goals must be met. The first is to identify cell wall synthesis (CWS) genes involved in structure formation. The recently completed genome sequence of Thalassiosira pseudonana opens the door for genomic and proteomic approaches to accomplish this. An important method to determine the function of CWS genes will be to modify gene sequences or expression and monitor the effect on structure. Performing gene modifications is straightforward, and modified genes can be introduced into diatoms, but the current inability to replace native diatom genes with modified copies could be a problem. However, there are feasible approaches yet to be applied to achieve this goal. It is very likely that continued development and application of molecular genetic techniques will enable us to specifically modify diatom silicified structures and provide a detailed understanding of the underlying mechanism of their formation.