Co-Expression of Magnetotactic Bacterial Genes and Genes Encoding Iron Handling Proteins in Cells

摘要

The invention provides an improved modified magnetosome that contains more iron therein with the combination of the expressed genes. This is achieved by co-expression of (a) one or more bacterial magnetotactic genes to amplify iron uptake, compartmentalization and biomineralization in cells, with (b) one or more mammalian iron handling proteins that together augment(s) and/or regulate the cells iron pool. As a result, mammalian cells or bacterial cells that are transfected or transformed, respectively, can be more effectively tracked using various imaging technologies.