Physical investigation and understanding of biomineralisation proteins and their use for the synthesis of new nanomaterials

生物矿化蛋白质的物理研究和理解及其在合成新纳米材料中的用途

• 批准号: BB/H005412/2
• 负责人: Sarah Staniland
• 金额: $ 13.44万
• 依托单位: University of Sheffield
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2013 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FH005412%2F2
• 关键词: Physical; investigation; understanding; biomineralisation; proteins

Scientific and economic interest in nanotechnology has grown in recent years. Within this the quest to produce tiny and highly tailored magnetic particles, or nanomagnets is crucial. Nanomagnets have a range of practical uses. Historically they have been used for information storage such as tapes and hard drives. Recently this has expanded, with the development of 3D information storage systems providing high density data storage. There is also much interest in the medical applications of nanomagnets. Magnetic particles are being developed to provide targeted medicine within the body. For example, if drugs are tied to nanomagnets at the molecular level then they can be directed by a magnet to specific sites within the patient. This allows a drug to be delivered to a specific area, without harming the rest of the body. Similarly, nanomagnets can be used in hyperthermic therapies. This is where, after being directed to specific tumour sites, magnetic particles are heated to either destroy a tumour or activate a drug. However, as nanotechnology grows, so too does the need to develop precisely engineered nanomagnets. Different applications demand different shapes and sizes of particles and different magnetic properties. Controlling the composition and dimensions of nanomagnets has therefore become a key goal of researchers. Biomineralisation is the process that occurs in living organisms to produce minerals such as bones. Because genetics control biomineralisation processes the materials produced exhibit very precise, uniform and intricate formations down to the nano-scale. Furthermore, if the genetics are understood it may be possible to change with precision the nature of biomineralised materials. Magnetotactic bacteria biomineralise high quality and uniform nanoparticles of the iron-oxide magnetite within biological fatty shells (or vesicles) within the bacterial cell (termed magnetosomes). Because magnetosomes exhibit considerable uniformity and precision they present a novel and attractive route to produce high quality nanoparticles. However, the biomineralisation method can be inefficient for commercial production and is restricted to the specifications imposed by the bacterial cell leaving little flexibility for further modifications. A protein found to be involved in making nanomagnets in the bacteria has previously been extracted, and mass produced (expressed) and used in a chemical precipitation of magnetic particles. The protein was found to control the particle's size and shape even in this chemical production outside the bacterial cell. This research will identify biomineralisation proteins from the genetic information we have about magnetic bacteria, and investigate these proteins individually by expressing then and using them in a chemical formation of nanoparticles similar to the previous study. From this we will study in detail how the protein physically controls the size and shape of the particles using microscopy, spectroscopy and diffraction techniques. These will study the proteins while they are making the particles, so we can identify which parts of the proteins are responsible for the control over formation. With this information we will develop a combined chemical/biological method of making nanomagnetic particles. The new method will combine the benefits of the precision offered by biomineralisation, with the higher yields and more malleable system with respect to variation, offered by chemical synthesis. Furthermore, once the specific role of each protein has been ascertained, particles can be designed and custom-made with the addition of a recipe of the specific proteins and metal ions. This will offer more control over the particles' characteristics than the biological system. This biomimetic synthetic method will allow for the production of particles on a larger, and more commercially viable, scale than if the bacteria alone were used.

近年来，人们对纳米技术的科学和经济兴趣不断增长。其中，寻求生产微小且高​​度定制的磁性颗粒或纳米磁体至关重要。纳米磁体具有一系列实际用途。从历史上看，它们曾用于信息存储，例如磁带和硬盘驱动器。最近，随着提供高密度数据存储的 3D 信息存储系统的发展，这种情况已经扩大。人们对纳米磁体的医学应用也很感兴趣。正在开发磁性粒子以在体内提供靶向药物。例如，如果药物在分子水平上与纳米磁体结合，那么它们可以通过磁体引导到患者体内的特定部位。这使得药物能够被输送到特定区域，而不会伤害身体的其他部位。同样，纳米磁体可用于热疗。在这里，磁性颗粒被定向到特定的肿瘤部位后被加热，以破坏肿瘤或激活药物。然而，随着纳米技术的发展，开发精确设计的纳米磁体的需求也在增长。不同的应用需要不同形状和尺寸的颗粒以及不同的磁性能。因此，控制纳米磁体的成分和尺寸已成为研究人员的一个关键目标。生物矿化是生物体产生骨骼等矿物质的过程。由于遗传学控制生物矿化过程，所生产的材料表现出非常精确、均匀和复杂的结构，直至纳米级。此外，如果了解遗传学，就有可能精确地改变生物矿化材料的性质。趋磁细菌在细菌细胞内的生物脂肪壳（或囊泡）（称为磁小体）内生物矿化高质量且均匀的氧化铁磁铁矿纳米颗粒。由于磁小体表现出相当大的均匀性和精度，它们为生产高质量纳米颗粒提供了一种新颖且有吸引力的途径。然而，生物矿化方法对于商业生产来说效率低下，并且受限于细菌细胞施加的规格，几乎没有进一步修改的灵活性。一种被发现参与细菌中纳米磁体制造的蛋白质此前已被提取、大量生产（表达）并用于磁性颗粒的化学沉淀。研究发现，即使在细菌细胞外的化学生产中，该蛋白质也能控制颗粒的大小和形状。这项研究将从我们掌握的有关磁性细菌的遗传信息中识别生物矿化蛋白，并通过表达然后将它们用于纳米颗粒的化学形成中来单独研究这些蛋白，类似于之前的研究。由此，我们将详细研究蛋白质如何利用显微镜、光谱学和衍射技术物理控制颗粒的大小和形状。这些将在制造颗粒时研究蛋白质，因此我们可以确定蛋白质的哪些部分负责控制形成。有了这些信息，我们将开发一种制造纳米磁性颗粒的化学/生物相结合的方法。新方法将结合生物矿化提供的精度优势与化学合成提供的更高产量和更具变化性的系统。此外，一旦确定了每种蛋白质的具体作用，就可以通过添加特定蛋白质和金属离子的配方来设计和定制颗粒。这将比生物系统更好地控制粒子的特性。与单独使用细菌相比，这种仿生合成方法将允许以更大、更具商业可行性的规模生产颗粒。

项目成果

Nano- and micro-patterning biotemplated magnetic CoPt arrays.

• DOI: 10.1039/c6nr03330j
• 发表时间: 2016-06
• 期刊: Nanoscale
• 影响因子: 6.7
• 作者: J. M. Galloway;J. M. Galloway;S. M. Bird;J. Talbot;P. Shepley;Ruth C. Bradley;Osama El-Zubir;Osama El-Zubir;D. Allwood;Graham J Leggett;J. Miles;Sarah S. Staniland;Kevin Critchley

Ferrous Iron Binding Key to Mms6 Magnetite Biomineralisation: A Mechanistic Study to Understand Magnetite Formation Using pH Titration and NMR Spectroscopy.

• DOI: 10.1002/chem.201600322
• 发表时间: 2016-06-01
• 期刊: CHEMISTRY-A EUROPEAN JOURNAL
• 影响因子: 4.3
• 作者: Rawlings, Andrea E.;Bramble, Jonathan P.;Hounslow, Andrea M.;Williamson, Michael P.;Monnington, Amy E.;Cooke, David J.;Staniland, Sarah S.
• 通讯作者: Staniland, Sarah S.

Using a biomimetic membrane surface experiment to investigate the activity of the magnetite biomineralisation protein Mms6.

• DOI: 10.1039/c5ra16469a
• 发表时间: 2016-01-29
• 期刊: RSC advances
• 影响因子: 3.9
• 作者: Bird SM;Rawlings AE;Galloway JM;Staniland SS
• 通讯作者: Staniland SS

Macrofluidic Coaxial Flow Platforms to Produce Tunable Magnetite Nanoparticles: A Study of the Effect of Reaction Conditions and Biomineralisation Protein Mms6.

用于生产可调磁铁矿纳米颗粒的宏流体同轴流平台：反应条件和生物矿化蛋白 Mms6 影响的研究。

• DOI: 10.3390/nano9121729
• 发表时间: 2019
• 期刊: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland)
• 作者: Norfolk L

A novel design strategy for nanoparticles on nanopatterns: interferometric lithographic patterning of Mms6 biotemplated magnetic nanoparticles.

纳米颗粒上的纳米颗粒的新型设计策略：MMS6生物塑造磁性纳米颗粒的干涉光刻图案。

• DOI: 10.1039/c5tc03895b
• 发表时间: 2016-05-14
• 期刊: Journal of materials chemistry. C
• 作者: Bird SM;El-Zubir O;Rawlings AE;Leggett GJ;Staniland SS
• 通讯作者: Staniland SS