Post by skyship on Jan 18, 2010 16:24:12 GMT -5
I will start a list of knowns works, studies or creations
of new self assembly, and assembly mechanisms that
are derived from proteins from nature. I call this
stealing nature's proteins.
1. Recombinant spider silk proteins:[/b]
www.pnas.org/content/105/18/6590/F7.expansion.html
=========================
Fishing For New Materials"
2. Diatom Cylindrotheca fusiformisproteins called silaffins
3. Apatite from mollusc shells, calcium cabonate (humans)
4 Atacamite from blood worm glycera
"Copper jaws
When you think about biominerals, the first examples that come to mind will probably be calcium minerals, including the apatite of our bones and the calcium carbonate of mollusc shells. Since the 1960s, however, researchers have discovered more than 60 different types of minerals produced by living organisms, and expanded the field then known as 'calcification' into a highly diverse one called biomineralisation.
Still, the most recent addition can count as a rather surprising one. Helga Lichtenegger and coworkers at the University of California at Santa Barbara showed that the poison-injecting jaws of the marine bloodworm Glycera dibranchiata contains a copper mineral mainly found in the Atacama Desert in Chile, and therefore known as atacamite, [Cu2(OH)3Cl]. Considering that the jaw tissue contains a relatively low proportion of mineral compared with most kinds of teeth, it is striking that the Californian researchers could demonstrate that the copper mineral is responsible for the unusually high abrasion resistance of the jaw.10
It remains to be elucidated why this particular species has bucked the trend and chosen copper to serve a structural role. The researchers speculate that the metal may also have an additional biochemical role in activating the poison secreted from the jaw structure. "
5. Glassy needles (spicules)marine sponge Tethya aurantia.
SILICATEIN
" The prototype of the family, silicatein alpha, turned out to be closely related to a family of proteolytic enzymes. Subtle sequence differences account for the fact that silicatein is inactive as a protease, and able to condense tetraethoxysilane molecules to polymeric silica instead.
Using their insight into the function of silicateins, Morse and his coworkers proceeded to create a biomimetic catalyst of silica polymerisation. Their simple synthetic peptides, consisting of blocks of cysteine and lysine residues, are capable of hydrolysing the precursor molecule tetraethoxysilane and turning it into two different morphologies of silica, depending on whether or not the thiol groups of the peptide are oxidised.
Similarly, Stephen Mann's group at the University of Bristol also designs biomimetic catalysts for the ordered deposition of inorganic materials. Mann has shown that polyanions such as polyaspartate or polyacrylate can induce the formation of interesting nanostructures in different minerals including barium sulphate and calcium carbonate. Recently, the group has shown, in collaboration with Adriana Bigi of the University of Bologna, Italy, that the same polyanions can assemble octacalcium phosphate into hollow µm-sized globules (spherulites) with a highly porous outer shell."
6 Snail shell
"A new twist
Clearly, a number of different composite materials can already be made by biomimetic synthesis. The next major challenge is to understand the rules to an extent that any material can be made to order and its structure controlled on a nanometre scale. One particularly challenging goal for biomimetic material synthesis is the induction of chirality.
The conundrum is most obvious when you look at a snail's shell, which is clearly chiral on a macroscopic level, but consists of a mineral that is achiral (typically aragonite, a form of calcium carbonate). Again, biomolecules must be directing the assembly on a nanometre level in ways that result in the macroscopic chirality.
Two years ago, Christine Orme and coworkers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, demonstrated in a simple model system how a chiral amino acid can convey chirality to growing calcite crystals, by binding to those edges that offer the best stereochemical and energetic conditions. Several laboratories have also created synthetic chiral materials using biological molecules as templates. For example, Stephen Mann's group used a chiral lipid to create a silica structure with helical chirality. "
NOW...........we are in the correct lab, I believe with a twist!
7. nacre of mollusc shells.
8. sponge spicules serve as light guides.
www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2003/July/materials.asp
more on this lab later............getting to the nano parasite.
skyship
of new self assembly, and assembly mechanisms that
are derived from proteins from nature. I call this
stealing nature's proteins.
1. Recombinant spider silk proteins:[/b]
www.pnas.org/content/105/18/6590/F7.expansion.html
=========================
Fishing For New Materials"
2. Diatom Cylindrotheca fusiformisproteins called silaffins
3. Apatite from mollusc shells, calcium cabonate (humans)
4 Atacamite from blood worm glycera
"Copper jaws
When you think about biominerals, the first examples that come to mind will probably be calcium minerals, including the apatite of our bones and the calcium carbonate of mollusc shells. Since the 1960s, however, researchers have discovered more than 60 different types of minerals produced by living organisms, and expanded the field then known as 'calcification' into a highly diverse one called biomineralisation.
Still, the most recent addition can count as a rather surprising one. Helga Lichtenegger and coworkers at the University of California at Santa Barbara showed that the poison-injecting jaws of the marine bloodworm Glycera dibranchiata contains a copper mineral mainly found in the Atacama Desert in Chile, and therefore known as atacamite, [Cu2(OH)3Cl]. Considering that the jaw tissue contains a relatively low proportion of mineral compared with most kinds of teeth, it is striking that the Californian researchers could demonstrate that the copper mineral is responsible for the unusually high abrasion resistance of the jaw.10
It remains to be elucidated why this particular species has bucked the trend and chosen copper to serve a structural role. The researchers speculate that the metal may also have an additional biochemical role in activating the poison secreted from the jaw structure. "
5. Glassy needles (spicules)marine sponge Tethya aurantia.
SILICATEIN
" The prototype of the family, silicatein alpha, turned out to be closely related to a family of proteolytic enzymes. Subtle sequence differences account for the fact that silicatein is inactive as a protease, and able to condense tetraethoxysilane molecules to polymeric silica instead.
Using their insight into the function of silicateins, Morse and his coworkers proceeded to create a biomimetic catalyst of silica polymerisation. Their simple synthetic peptides, consisting of blocks of cysteine and lysine residues, are capable of hydrolysing the precursor molecule tetraethoxysilane and turning it into two different morphologies of silica, depending on whether or not the thiol groups of the peptide are oxidised.
Similarly, Stephen Mann's group at the University of Bristol also designs biomimetic catalysts for the ordered deposition of inorganic materials. Mann has shown that polyanions such as polyaspartate or polyacrylate can induce the formation of interesting nanostructures in different minerals including barium sulphate and calcium carbonate. Recently, the group has shown, in collaboration with Adriana Bigi of the University of Bologna, Italy, that the same polyanions can assemble octacalcium phosphate into hollow µm-sized globules (spherulites) with a highly porous outer shell."
6 Snail shell
"A new twist
Clearly, a number of different composite materials can already be made by biomimetic synthesis. The next major challenge is to understand the rules to an extent that any material can be made to order and its structure controlled on a nanometre scale. One particularly challenging goal for biomimetic material synthesis is the induction of chirality.
The conundrum is most obvious when you look at a snail's shell, which is clearly chiral on a macroscopic level, but consists of a mineral that is achiral (typically aragonite, a form of calcium carbonate). Again, biomolecules must be directing the assembly on a nanometre level in ways that result in the macroscopic chirality.
Two years ago, Christine Orme and coworkers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, demonstrated in a simple model system how a chiral amino acid can convey chirality to growing calcite crystals, by binding to those edges that offer the best stereochemical and energetic conditions. Several laboratories have also created synthetic chiral materials using biological molecules as templates. For example, Stephen Mann's group used a chiral lipid to create a silica structure with helical chirality. "
NOW...........we are in the correct lab, I believe with a twist!
7. nacre of mollusc shells.
8. sponge spicules serve as light guides.
www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2003/July/materials.asp
more on this lab later............getting to the nano parasite.
skyship