Table of Content

Open Access iconOpen Access

ARTICLE

Nanobiodiversity: The Potential of Extracellular Nanostructures

Felipe Orozco1‡, Brian Alfaro-González1‡, Yendry Corrales Ureña1, Karolina Villalobos1, Angie Sanchez1, Francisco Bravo1, José Roberto Vega1, Orlando Argüello-Miranda1†*

1 National Laboratory of Nanotechnology, National Center of High Technology CENAT, San José, Costa Rica
Present address: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA

*Corresponding author: email

Journal of Renewable Materials 2017, 5(3-4), 199-207. https://doi.org/10.7569/JRM.2017.634110

Abstract

As an outcome of millions of years of evolution, biological systems have developed different methods to interact with their surroundings. Many of these adaptations, such as secretions, light-interacting surfaces, biochemical active compounds, and many other survival strategies, are phenomena occurring at the nanometric scale. In this review, we describe how extracellular nanometric structures are responsible for manipulating energy and matter, creating some of the emergent properties of life. Iridescent colors in birds’ feathers, the manipulation of wettability of insects’ exoskeletons, the adhesive properties of nanopatterned secretions and the ability to polarize light are examples of the potential of extracellular nanostructures. We defined the study of extracellular nanostructures as “nanobiodiversity,” a unifying concept that emphasizes the inspiration that life at the nanoscale offers, not only for designing new materials, but also for its understanding.

Keywords


Cite This Article

APA Style
Orozco, F., Alfaro-González, B., Ureña, Y.C., Villalobos, K., Sanchez, A. et al. (2017). Nanobiodiversity: the potential of extracellular nanostructures. Journal of Renewable Materials, 5(3-4), 199-207. https://doi.org/10.7569/JRM.2017.634110
Vancouver Style
Orozco F, Alfaro-González B, Ureña YC, Villalobos K, Sanchez A, Bravo F, et al. Nanobiodiversity: the potential of extracellular nanostructures. J Renew Mater. 2017;5(3-4):199-207 https://doi.org/10.7569/JRM.2017.634110
IEEE Style
F. Orozco et al., "Nanobiodiversity: The Potential of Extracellular Nanostructures," J. Renew. Mater., vol. 5, no. 3-4, pp. 199-207. 2017. https://doi.org/10.7569/JRM.2017.634110



cc Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Tech Science Press.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
  • 2005

    View

  • 1271

    Download

  • 0

    Like

Related articles

Share Link