From DNA to genetically evolved technology
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erview Evidence that DNA and enzymes can be utilized to engineer high-performing materials stems from three main sources: (1) the study of biominerals (such as bones and seashells),1–4 which are nature’s proof of principle that high-performing ceramic composites can be produced from DNA-encoded processes; (2) the development of methods for designing new biomolecular-mineral interactions5–8 and demonstrations of the utility of these methods toward (for example) genetically engineering electronic devices9–12 and evolutionarily selecting semiconductor materials;13 and (3) continuing innovations in DNA technologies,14,15 including advances in synthetic biology,16,17 which are rapidly providing new toolkits for productively harnessing biomolecular systems. Previous studies in biomineralization and biomimetic mineralization will be addressed, followed by a brief introduction to important biomolecular machines (i.e., ribosomes and polymerases) that are critical to cellular activity in natural and biotechnological systems. Advantages of DNA-based materials engineering approaches will then be introduced by way of comparison with robotic approaches to combinatorial materials discovery. Following this, key genetic engineering platforms will be presented, including polypeptide library screening,5,6,8 nucleic
acid library screening,7,18 and in vitro compartmentalization.13,19,20 The prospect of developing specialized synthetic biological toolkits for genetically evolving technology is discussed in the final section.
Biominerals and biomimetic materials chemistry Biominerals are valuable model materials providing important lessons for synthesizing functional ceramic composites.1–4 They are highly diverse in their chemical compositions, structures, and functions. Examples of unique biomineral qualities include: increased fracture toughness in CaCO3based red abalone shell by more than 3,000 times the geologic mineral, through the addition of a few percent of organics;21,22 synthesis of single-crystal magnetite nanoparticles by bacteria, which feature tightly controlled sizes and are dominated by high energy crystal facets;23,24 fabrication of diatom silica cell walls, which are three-dimensional silica microforms with highly intricate nanopatterned structures (Figure 1a);3,25,26 the formation of complex shapes from single-crystal calcite (CaCO3), resulting in structures that behave, for example, as optical lenses;27 mineralized appendages in some marine crustaceans, composed of both calcium phosphate and calcium carbonate,
Lukmaan A. Bawazer, School of Chemistry, University of Leeds, UK; [email protected] DOI: 10.1557/mrs.2013.133
© 2013 Materials Research Society
MRS BULLETIN • VOLUME 38 • JUNE 2013 • www.mrs.org/bulletin
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FROM DNA TO GENETICALLY EVOLVED TECHNOLOGY
form higher-order scaffolds.1,32 Organic surface chemistries interact with metal species dissolved in aqueous media to increase local supersaturation and induce mineral nucleation in a site-specific manner. These nucleation sites, in turn, are molecularly
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