Magnetotactic Bacteria and Magnetosomes: Basic Properties and Applications

Magnetotactic bacteria and magnetosomes.

How magnetotactic bacteria make magnetosomes

Magnetotactic bacteria contain chains of magnetosomes that comprise a permanent magnetic dipole in each cell. In two separate, recent papers, Scheffel et a/. and Komeili et a/. describe the roles of the proteins MamJ and MamK in magnetosome chain formation. Here, we describe the two studies and highlight questions that must be addressed in future investigations of how magnetotactic bacteria con...

Applications of Magnetosomes Synthesized by Magnetotactic Bacteria in Medicine

Magnetotactic bacteria belong to a group of bacteria that synthesize iron oxide nanoparticles covered by biological material that are called magnetosomes. These bacteria use the magnetosomes as a compass to navigate in the direction of the earth's magnetic field. This compass helps the bacteria to find the optimum conditions for their growth and survival. Here, we review several medical applica...

Formation of magnetosomes in magnetotactic bacteria.

The ability of magnetotactic bacteria to orient and migrate along geomagnetic field lines is based on intracellular magnetic structures, the magnetosomes, which comprise nano-sized, membrane bound crystals of magnetic iron minerals. The formation of magnetosomes is achieved by a biological mechanism that controls the accumulation of iron and the biomineralization of magnetic crystals with a cha...

Biomineralization, crystallography and magnetic properties of bullet-shaped magnetite magnetosomes in giant rod magnetotactic bacteria

a Biogeomagnetism Group, Key Laboratory of the Earth's Deep Interior, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China b France-China Bio-Mineralization and Nano-Structures Laboratory, Beijing 100029, China c Laboratoire de Microscopies et d'Etude de Nanostructures (LMEN), Université de Reims, 59687 Reims, France d Institut de Minéralogie et Physique des M...