Synthetic biology, the redesign of biological molecules, structures and organisms, is potentially one of the most powerful emerging technologies today. Nanotechnology continues to develop as one of the most exciting areas of scientific discovery as well. Since dimensionality plays a key role in determining the qualities of matter, the realization of the great potential of nanotechnology has opened the door to other disciplines like synthetic biology. Firstly, synthetic biology technology can be used to engineer bacteria or cells and obtain biogenic nanomaterials with special biological functions; secondly, we can use
nanomaterials to enhance the functions of living organisms or simulate life activities, so as to expand the engineering design and construction concept for synthetic biology.
We mainly illustrated the role of synthetic biology in nanotechnology from the following aspects:
Biosynthesis of Nanomaterials
Biosynthesis of nanomaterials, combined nanotechnology with biotechnology, is more environmentally friendly in terms of raw material selection, regulation of reaction conditions and post-processing when compared with the traditional physical and chemical methods. In the biosynthesis procedure, bio-compounds in plants or microorganisms, including proteins, phenols, flavonoids, sugars and enzymes, can be used to synthesize nobel metal nano-particles, magnetic nanoparticles, fluorescent semiconductor quantum dots, etc.
Organisms are able to produce nanomaterials due to the following reasons. First, they can offer the biomolecules which can reduce the precursors sustainably. Besides, the conjugated biomolecules on precursors are good for crystalline formation. Furthermore, the size, optical wavelength, and precipitation site can be tuned.
Some examples of biosynthesized nanomaterials are listed below[1]:
| Semiconductor |
| | | |
| Monoelectric Alkali Earth |
| | | |
| Dielectric Earth & Rare Earth Fluorides |
| | | |
| Noble Metal |
| | | |
| Magnetic nanoparticles |
| | | |
Genetically Engineering-modified Biogenic Nanomaterials—'Pseudo-organism'
Bacteria or cells are engineered to isolate and obtain biogenic nanomaterials with special biological functions through the synthetic biology technology, which are called “pseudo-organism”. Pseudo-organisms have some functional characteristics of living organisms, such as high biocompatibility and high in vivo stability, and are widely used in targeted drug/vaccine delivery in vivo. Common pseudo-organisms include cell membrane-based nanoparticles, exosomes, bacterial outer membrane vesicles, virus-like particles, and bacterial biofilm (as shown below).
- Cell membrane-based nanoparticles
Cell membrane-based nanoparticles refer to dressing synthetic nanoparticles with membranes derived from different types of cells to endow them with the properties of a specific cell type.
Exosomes are nano-sized extracellular vesicles generated by all cells and they carry nucleic acids, proteins, lipids, and metabolites.
Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) are nanosized proteo-liposomes derived from the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria.
Bacterial biofilms are clusters of bacteria that are attached to a surface and/or to each other and embedded in a self-produced matrix.
Virus like particles are nanoscale structures made up of assembled viral proteins that lack viral genetic material.
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Reference
- Yinhua Cui. Mechanism, Regulation of Chalcogen and Chalcogenides Nanomaterials Biosynthesis and Their Application. University of Science and Technology of China, 2018.
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