Understanding and using microbial conductive nanowires

项目摘要 电子沿着G.硫还原蛋白丝，称为 微生物纳米线，已经被用来解释广泛的全球重要的氧化还原现象。的 这些纳米线的显著的电子传导能力已经引起了人们对纳米线的极大兴趣。 医疗应用空间，如构建生物相容性材料和生物传感器。十多年来，G。 硫还原菌纳米线被认为是细菌IV型皮利，这得到了许多间接遗传学和 生化观察最近，我们发现这些导电纳米线不是由IV型菌毛制成的。 相反，这些结构是聚合的多血红素c型细胞色素，例如OmcS和OmcE，其 从未被描述过目前，我们对细胞色素附属物的认识仍然非常有限。 有限公司本研究旨在解决呼吸中细胞色素丝的基本科学问题 并将我们的发现应用于一般医学领域。具体而言，我将：A）识别和 通过生物信息学搜索表征细菌和古细菌菌株中的新型细胞色素丝 随后进行显微镜验证。B）通过高分辨率的方法研究这些细丝的传导机制。 低温电子显微镜（cryo-EM）和电导率测量。C）设计自组装导电 基于结构知识的纳米线。这些结果已经并将继续推进我们对 细胞色素纳米线和自组装纳米线产品可以用于许多未来的生物医学领域， 应用.

Project Summary Long-range (>10 µm) transport of electrons along networks of G. sulfurreducens protein filaments, known as microbial nanowires, has been invoked to explain a wide range of globally important redox phenomena. The remarkable electronic conduction capability of those nanowires has sparked a great deal of interest in the medical application space, such as building biocompatible materials and biosensors. For over a decade, G. sulfurreducens nanowires were thought to be bacterial type IV pili, supported by many indirect genetic and biochemical observations. Recently we showed that these conductive nanowires are not made of type IV pilins. Instead, these structures are a polymerized multi-heme c-type cytochrome, such as OmcS and OmcE, which have never been characterized before. Currently, our knowledge of cytochrome appendages is still very limited. This study aims to address fundamental scientific questions about cytochrome filaments in respiring prokaryotes and apply our discoveries to the general medical field. Specifically, I will: A) identify and characterize novel cytochrome filaments in bacterial and archaeal strains through bioinformatics searches followed by microscopic validation. B) Study the conduction mechanism of these filaments by high-resolution cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and conductivity measurement. C) Design self-assembled conductive nanowires based on structural knowledge. The results have and will continue to advance our understanding of cytochrome nanowires, and self-assembling nanowire products can be used in many future biomedical applications.