Electron Tunneling in Ferritin and Associated Biosystems

IF 2.4 Q2 ENGINEERING, ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONIC

IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications Pub Date : 2023-03-12 DOI:10.1109/TMBMC.2023.3275793

Ismael Diez Perez;Sierin Lim;Christian A. Nijhuis;Olivier Pluchery;Christopher J. Rourk

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Abstract

Ferritin is a 12 nanometer (nm) diameter iron storage protein complex that is found in most plants and animals. A substantial body of evidence has established that electrons can tunnel through and between ferritin protein nanoparticles and that it exhibits Coulomb blockade behavior, which is also seen in quantum dots and nanoparticles. This evidence can be used to understand the behavior of these particles for use in nanoelectronic devices, for biomedical applications and for investigation of quantum biological phenomena. Ferritin also has magnetic properties that make it useful for applications such as memristors and as a contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging. This article provides a short overview of this evidence, as well as evidence of ferritin structures in vivo and of tunneling in those structures, with an emphasis on ferritin structures in substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) neurons. Potential biomedical applications that could utilize these ferritin protein nanoparticles are also discussed.

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铁蛋白及其相关生物系统中的电子隧道

铁蛋白是一种直径为12纳米（nm）的铁储存蛋白复合物，存在于大多数植物和动物中。大量证据表明，电子可以穿过铁蛋白-蛋白质纳米颗粒并在其之间隧穿，并且表现出库仑阻断行为，这在量子点和纳米颗粒中也可以看到。这些证据可用于了解这些粒子的行为，用于纳米电子设备、生物医学应用和量子生物现象的研究。铁素还具有磁性，可用于忆阻器和磁共振成像造影剂等应用。本文简要概述了这一证据，以及体内铁蛋白结构和这些结构中隧道的证据，重点介绍了黑质致密部（SNc）神经元中的铁蛋白结构。还讨论了利用这些铁蛋白蛋白质纳米颗粒的潜在生物医学应用。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications Mathematics-Modeling and Simulation

CiteScore

3.90

自引率

13.60%

发文量

期刊介绍： As a result of recent advances in MEMS/NEMS and systems biology, as well as the emergence of synthetic bacteria and lab/process-on-a-chip techniques, it is now possible to design chemical “circuits”, custom organisms, micro/nanoscale swarms of devices, and a host of other new systems. This success opens up a new frontier for interdisciplinary communications techniques using chemistry, biology, and other principles that have not been considered in the communications literature. The IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications (T-MBMSC) is devoted to the principles, design, and analysis of communication systems that use physics beyond classical electromagnetism. This includes molecular, quantum, and other physical, chemical and biological techniques; as well as new communication techniques at small scales or across multiple scales (e.g., nano to micro to macro; note that strictly nanoscale systems, 1-100 nm, are outside the scope of this journal). Original research articles on one or more of the following topics are within scope: mathematical modeling, information/communication and network theoretic analysis, standardization and industrial applications, and analytical or experimental studies on communication processes or networks in biology. Contributions on related topics may also be considered for publication. Contributions from researchers outside the IEEE’s typical audience are encouraged.