Rupali Reddy Pasula,
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Title: Towards engineering magneto-receptive E. coli
Biography
Biography: Rupali Reddy Pasula,
Abstract
Nanoparticles exhibit unique physical, mechanical, optical and electromagnetic properties owing to the increase in surface area to volume ratio as compared to the bulk material. Th e unique characteristics paves way to a wide array of applications such as detection of proteins, tumor destruction, tissue engineering and MRI contrast enhancement. Biological synthesis of these nanoparticles using bacterial hosts is being explored as an alternative to chemical synthesis as it is environmentally friendly. Protein Nano cages, when employed as templates facilitate production of size controlled monodispersed nanoparticles. Cells harboring these protein nanocages could be engineered with surface ligands for tissue-specifi c accumulation for enhanced imaging for MRI applications. Archaeoglobus fulgidus Ferritin (AfFtn) a self-assembling, 24-subunit iron storage protein which maintains iron homeostasis, is used as a template for iron nanoparticle synthesis in E. coli. To enhance iron uptake and reduce iron effl ux, the E. coli has been further engineered to express iron infl ux transporter protein (feoB) while knocking out iron effl ux protein (Δfi eF). Further protein engineering of AfFtn to exhibit magnetite forming ability was explored to enhance the magnetic properties. In vivo iron loading in AfFtn was achieved by incubating E. coli with excess iron in the growth medium. Th e bacterium which has been characterized for its magnetic properties exhibits ferromagnetic behaviour with a fast response to an external magnetic fi eld.