Bottom up nanowiring of primitive neural networks via tubulation NanoTubeNet
Abstract
While most organisms on Earth rely on oxygen to power their metabolism, some microbes use alternative electron acceptors like iron a,nd manganese minerals. The problem is that these oxidants cannot easily penetrate the cell membranes to enable the respiration. Howe,ver, said microbes have evolved ingenious strategies to overcome the problem and to establish electrical contact to solid surfaces a,nd between each other. During the last 30 years, this ability for extracellular electron transfer has been harnessed for interfacing, these single-cell organisms with electrodes, which led to the emergence of new scientific discipline electromicrobiology. Since t,hen, electromicrobes have been employed for multiple applications in energy production, wastewater treatment, desalination, and stor,age of renewable energy. One of the tools that electromicrobes use to conduct electricity over large distances are the so called nan,owires. Even though the structure of these cellular appendages has not beenfully understood, there is a consensus that electron tran,sfer proteins along the nanowires are responsible for the conductivity, exhibited even in thick biofilms. For instance, in the absen,ce of oxygen, one of the best-studied electroactive species Shewanella produces few-nanometer-thick membrane protrusions, which cont,ain redox-active proteins. Along this notion, we will use isolated proteins and will insert them in the membranes of phospholipid ve,sicles, the latter being the simplest mockups of natural cells. Thereby, we will investigate the biophysical foundations behind the,buckling out of membrane nanotubes and will measure their conductivity to probe whether these nanotubes indeed act as nanowires. Aft,erwards, we will deliberately connect multiple vesicles by said nanowires, effectively mimicking the architecture of conductive micr,obial biofilms. The latter arrangement is in fact quite similar to our brain, which also consists of cell nodes (the neuronal soma),, connected by wires (the axons and dendrites). Therefore, the proposed network of interconnected artificial cells may lay the founda,tion of novel concepts for biocomputing.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Mar 05, 2022
- Source ID
- N629092212027
Entities
People
- Ivan G. Ivanov
Organizations
- Max Planck Society
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy