Formation of Magnetite in Magnetotactic Bacteria

Confronted with the often expensive methods used to synthesise nanomaterials, which involve the use of hazardous chemicals, there is a growing concern to develop environmental-friendly and sustainable methods for the synthesis of nanoparticles of different compositions, sizes, shapes, and controlled dispersity, particularly using a green chemistry approach which interconnects nanotechnology and microbial biotechnology. 

Although magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) have diverse morphologies, they are characterised by the clustering of the genes required for magnetosome formation (Komeili, 2007 Matsunaga and Okamura, 2003), which are 

I TPR protein I Generic iTiniporter I Actiri like MreB protein 

It is striking to see the vast difference in the degree of complexity required to carry out the biomineralisation of magnetite in magnetosomes when we compare it to the relative simplicity of that of ferritin. 

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