Genes make bacteria magnetic

摘要

Researchers have transferred genes for the production of magnetic nanocrystals from one species of bacteria to another, a step towards making bacterial bioreactors that generate such particles. Dirk Schueler at Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany, Youming Zhang at the Helmholtz Joint Institute at Shandong University in Jinan, China, and their team focused on roughly 30 genes from Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense that enable the bacterium to produce membrane-bound, iron-based magnetic nanocrystals.