Gas vesicles are unique hollow structures made of protein that are present in the cells of specific microorganisms. Researchers at Rice University have discovered that these vesicles can be programmed for use in various biomedical applications. The findings of Lu and colleagues have been published in a paper in Nature Microbiology, with Zongru Li as the lead author. Li, a fourth-year bioengineering doctoral student, explained that gas vesicles are cylindrical tubes closed by conical end caps, providing buoyancy within the cells of their native hosts. These vesicles are naturally found in five phyla of bacteria and two groups of archaea, mostly in planktonic microorganisms in freshwater ponds. Recent engineering of vesicles has led to various applications, including reporter gene imaging, acoustic control, and payload delivery. Yifan Dai, co-author and assistant professor of biomedical engineering at McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in Saint Louis, was drawn to the research with the question of why the vesicles can form in the honeycomb pattern. For more information, you can visit phys.org.
