121st General Meeting of the KCS

Type Symposium
Area Current Trends in Biological Chemistry
Room No. Room 203
Time FRI 09:00-:
Code BIO3-1
Subject Micrometric Iron Men
Authors INSUNG CHOI
Chemistry, KAIST, Korea
Abstract Nature has developed a fascinating strategy of cryptobiosis for counteracting the stressful, and often lethal, environmental conditions. For example, certain bacteria sporulate to transform from a metabolically active, vegetative state to an ametabolic endospore state. The bacterial endospores, encased within tough biomolecular shells, withstand the extremes of harmful stressors, such as radiation, desiccation, and malnutrition, for extended periods of time and return to a vegetative state by breaking their protective shells apart when their environment becomes hospitable for living. Inspired by cryptobiosis found in nature, researchers have sought to chemically control and tailor the metabolic behaviors of non-spore-forming cells as well as enhancing their viability against adverse environmental conditions, by forming thin (< 100 nm), tough artificial shells. These living “cell-in-shell” structures, called artificial spores, enable chemical control of cell division, protection against physical and chemical stresses, and cell-surface functionalizability, armed with exogenous properties that are not innate to the cells but are introduced chemically. The field has further advanced to the stage of chemical sporulation and germination, where cytoprotective shells are formed on living cells and broken apart on demand. The (degradable) cell-in-shell hybrids are anticipated to find their applications in various biomedical and bionanotechnological areas, such as cytotherapeutics, high-throughput screening, sensors, and biocatalysis, as well as providing a versatile research platform for single-cell biology. In this sense, the artificial spore can be considered as a micrometric Iron Man: what is important is not the shell but the cell inside the shell.
E-mail ischoi@kaist.ac.kr