From the Deep

In oceans, lakes and rivers all over the world, microorganisms called diatoms are sculpting strangely shaped shells – pyramids, stars, bowl-like curves, all built slowly from layer upon layer of silica. Inspired by these creative microbes, nanotechnologists are creating their own sturdy silica designs (shown on the top row) with thousands of uses. First they use DNA origami to produce a sort of scaffolding out of a mesh of DNA strands. Next, clumps of silica are pulled towards the DNA by their electrical charge. Layered up like an artificial diatom shell, the finished biomimetic structures (pictured here with two different types of high-powered microscope) are much stronger than DNA scaffolding alone. They could be just the thing to deliver drugs inside the human body, all while withstanding the sloshing currents in our veins and tissues – much like the diatoms bobbing in the ocean waves.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

Website

• Image from work by Xiaoguo Liu, Fei Zhang and Xinxin Jing, and colleagues
• Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China and Biodesign Institute, Tempe, AZ, USA
• Image copyright held by Nature Publishing Group 2018
• Published in Nature, July 2018