Engineering Magnetic Nanomaterial Production in Magnetotactic Bacteria Through Gene Regulation

Magnetotactic bacteria endogenously synthesize intracellular magnetic nanoparticles (magnetosomes); however, little is known regarding the genetic regulatory networks that control magnetosome production. In this paper, we explore the genetic response of Magnetospirillum magneticum strain AMB-1 to an applied electromagnetic field as a means to identify genes activated by magnetic stimulation. The expression of magnetosome island, flagellar and cytoskeletal genes was found to be differentially altered by magnetic stimulation at short and long times points. These results indicate previously uncharacterized endogenous gene network modules that could be exploited to engineer magnetic bacteria as magnetic nanomaterial producing-machines through gene regulation.