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The Role of Proteins in Biosilicification

Although the use of silicon dioxide (silica) as a constituent of living organisms is mainly restricted to diatoms and sponges, the ways in which this process is controlled by nature continue to inspire and fascinate. Both diatoms and sponges carry out biosilificiation using an organic matrix but the...

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Autor principal: Otzen, Daniel
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3820600/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24278750
http://dx.doi.org/10.6064/2012/867562
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author Otzen, Daniel
author_facet Otzen, Daniel
author_sort Otzen, Daniel
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description Although the use of silicon dioxide (silica) as a constituent of living organisms is mainly restricted to diatoms and sponges, the ways in which this process is controlled by nature continue to inspire and fascinate. Both diatoms and sponges carry out biosilificiation using an organic matrix but they adopt very different strategies. Diatoms use small and heavily modified peptides called silaffins, where the most characteristic feature is a modulation of charge by attaching long chain polyamines (LCPAs) to lysine groups. Free LCPAs can also cooperate with silaffins. Sponges use the enzyme silicatein which is homologous to the cysteine protease cathepsin. Both classes of proteins form higher-order structures which act both as structural templates and mechanistic catalysts for the polycondensation reaction. In both cases, additional proteins are continuously being discovered which modulate the process further. This paper concentrates on the role of these proteins in the biosilification process as well as in various applications, highlighting areas where focus on specific protein properties may provide further insight. The field of biosilification is a crossroads of different disciplines, where insight into the energetics and mechanisms of molecular self-assembly combine with fundamental biology, complex multicomponent colloidal systems, and an impressive array of potential technological applications.
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spelling pubmed-38206002013-11-25 The Role of Proteins in Biosilicification Otzen, Daniel Scientifica (Cairo) Review Article Although the use of silicon dioxide (silica) as a constituent of living organisms is mainly restricted to diatoms and sponges, the ways in which this process is controlled by nature continue to inspire and fascinate. Both diatoms and sponges carry out biosilificiation using an organic matrix but they adopt very different strategies. Diatoms use small and heavily modified peptides called silaffins, where the most characteristic feature is a modulation of charge by attaching long chain polyamines (LCPAs) to lysine groups. Free LCPAs can also cooperate with silaffins. Sponges use the enzyme silicatein which is homologous to the cysteine protease cathepsin. Both classes of proteins form higher-order structures which act both as structural templates and mechanistic catalysts for the polycondensation reaction. In both cases, additional proteins are continuously being discovered which modulate the process further. This paper concentrates on the role of these proteins in the biosilification process as well as in various applications, highlighting areas where focus on specific protein properties may provide further insight. The field of biosilification is a crossroads of different disciplines, where insight into the energetics and mechanisms of molecular self-assembly combine with fundamental biology, complex multicomponent colloidal systems, and an impressive array of potential technological applications. Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2012 2012-10-01 /pmc/articles/PMC3820600/ /pubmed/24278750 http://dx.doi.org/10.6064/2012/867562 Text en Copyright © 2012 Daniel Otzen. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Review Article
Otzen, Daniel
The Role of Proteins in Biosilicification
title The Role of Proteins in Biosilicification
title_full The Role of Proteins in Biosilicification
title_fullStr The Role of Proteins in Biosilicification
title_full_unstemmed The Role of Proteins in Biosilicification
title_short The Role of Proteins in Biosilicification
title_sort role of proteins in biosilicification
topic Review Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3820600/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24278750
http://dx.doi.org/10.6064/2012/867562
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