The magnetization of non-magnetic cells has great potential to aid various processes in medicine, but also in bioprocess engineering. Current approaches to magnetize cells with magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) require cellular uptake or adsorption through in vitro manipulation of cells. A relatively new field of research is “magnetogenetics” which focuses on in vivo production and accumulation of magnetic material. Natural intrinsically magnetic cells (IMCs) produce intracellular, MNPs, and are called magnetotactic bacteria (MTB). In recent years, researchers have unraveled function and structure of numerous proteins from MTB. Furthermore, protein engineering studies on such MTB proteins and other potentially magnetic proteins, like ferritins, highlight that in vivo magnetization of non-magnetic hosts is a thriving field of research. This review summarizes current knowledge on recombinant IMC generation and highlights future steps that can be taken to succeed in transforming non-magnetic cells to IMCs.

中文翻译：

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固有磁性细胞：对其自然发生和合成产生的回顾

非磁性细胞的磁化在帮助医学和生物过程工程的各种过程方面具有巨大的潜力。目前用磁性纳米粒子 (MNP) 磁化细胞的方法需要通过体外操作细胞进行细胞摄取或吸附。一个相对较新的研究领域是“磁遗传学”，它侧重于磁性材料的体内生产和积累。天然固有磁性细胞 (IMC) 产生细胞内 MNP，称为趋磁细菌 (MTB)。近年来，研究人员已经阐明了来自 MTB 的众多蛋白质的功能和结构。此外，对此类 MTB 蛋白和其他潜在磁性蛋白（如铁蛋白）的蛋白质工程研究强调，非磁性宿主的体内磁化是一个蓬勃发展的研究领域。