Crystalline bacterial cell surface layers (s layers): from supramolecular cell structure to biomimetics and nanotechnology

U B Sleytr; P Messner; D Pum; M Sára

doi:10.1002/(SICI)1521-3773(19990419)38:8<1034::AID-ANIE1034>3.0.CO;2-#

Crystalline bacterial cell surface layers (s layers): from supramolecular cell structure to biomimetics and nanotechnology

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 1999;38(8):1034-54. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1521-3773(19990419)38:8<1034::AID-ANIE1034>3.0.CO;2-#.

Authors

U B Sleytr¹, P Messner, D Pum, M Sára

Affiliation

¹ Zentrum für Ultrastrukturforschung und, Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institut für Molekulare Nanotechnologie, Universität für Bodenkultur, Gregor-Mendel-Strasse 33, A-1180 Vienna, Austria, Fax: (+43) 1-47-89112. sleytr@edv1.boku.ac.at.

Abstract

An astonishingly broad application potential in biotechnology, biomimetics, and nanotechnology is revealed by studies on the structure, chemistry, biosynthesis, genetics, self-assembly, and function of supramolecular surface layers (S layers). These are monomolecular, crystalline assemblies of protein or glycoprotein subunits and represent one of the most commonly observed surface structures of prokaryotic cell envelopes (see schematic representation of an archaebacterial cell envelope).

Keywords: Immobilization; Membranes; Nanotechnology; S layers; biomimetics.