Kurzfassung

The hierarchically structured biosilica skeleton of the siliceous sponges, the demosponges and hexactinellid glass sponges, with its exceptional opto-mechanical properties has turned out an excellent model for biomimetic approaches. These sponges have the unique ability to synthesize their skeletal elements (spicules) by an enzyme-catalyzed mechanism. In the first funding period much progress has been achieved towards the understanding and exploitation of the complex inorganic-organic...The hierarchically structured biosilica skeleton of the siliceous sponges, the demosponges and hexactinellid glass sponges, with its exceptional opto-mechanical properties has turned out an excellent model for biomimetic approaches. These sponges have the unique ability to synthesize their skeletal elements (spicules) by an enzyme-catalyzed mechanism. In the first funding period much progress has been achieved towards the understanding and exploitation of the complex inorganic-organic architecture of the spicules and the principle enzymes (silicateins) involved in their formation. This project, which requires a close collaboration between groups from inorganic chemistry and molecular biology, is based on the discovery of two new proteins, silintaphin-1 a silicatein interactor, and DUF a scaffolding protein, which are expected to provide profound new insights in the mechanism of spiculogenesis and to enable novel bio-inspired, approaches in nanobiotechnology and nanomedicine. The structural and functional significance of silintaphin-1 and DUF proteins and their concerted action with silicatein will be investigated. The self-assembly, structure-directing and biocatalytic capabilities of various combinations of silicatein, silintaphin-1, and DUF along with nanoparticles of diverse materials will be exploited for the generation of biomimetic nanostructured materials with new property combinations.» weiterlesen» einklappen