Colonies of bacteria the size of a fingernail
Bioengineers have created modular programmable materials from bacteria
Georgy Golovanov, Hi-tech+
Constructed living materials can benefit a person in the field of health, energy or ecology. American bioengineers have learned to create such materials with less effort and a larger size: colonies of self-assembling modified bacteria with an area of one square centimeter can be programmed to absorb pollutants or accelerate biological reactions.
"We create a material from bacteria that acts like mastic," she said. Caroline Ajo-Franklin from Rice University. "One of its advantages is its ease of creation — in fact, you need a little movement, a little bit of nutrients and bacteria."
For their research, the scientists took bacteria of the genus Caulobacter crescentus, which are found in reservoirs. Despite the fact that they themselves are easily subjected to genetic modification in order to give them the property of self-assembly, they had to go a long and difficult way. The bacterium had to be able to isolate a biopolymer matrix that would give it a shape.
C.crescentus already produces a protein that covers its outer membrane like the scales of a snake. Scientists have modified the bacterium so that it secretes a protein that they called BUD (bottom-up de novo, bottom-up from scratch) and which has useful properties for the formation of modified biomaterials with the possibility of further programming.
The material grew in the test tube in about 24 hours. First, a thin film formed on the surface of the water. Constant shaking contributed to the growth of bacteria. When the growth stopped, the material sank to the bottom.
The prototypes have reached the size of a human nail, but this is not the limit, scientists believe.
In laboratory conditions, the body lives at room temperature for three weeks. This means that a refrigerator is not required for its transportation. Tests have shown that the biomaterial successfully removes cadmium from an aqueous solution and is capable of conducting a biological catalysis reaction. It can also be modified relatively easily to perform optical, electrical, mechanical, thermal and catalytic tasks.
Article by Molinari et al. A de novo matrix for macroscopic living materials from bacteria is published in the journal Nature Communications – VM.
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