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In the material world built by human beings, organisms provide us with a lot of materials for all aspects of food, clothing, housing, and transportation.
For example, we make trees into building materials, cotton into textiles, and microbes are transformed into fuels and medicines through bioengineering.
In the manufacture of many things.
.
.
In recent years, a new research field has emerged in materials science and synthetic biology.
Scientists engaged in this kind of new research try to engineer cells and microorganisms to create a series of living characteristics.
"Engineered living materials (ELM)" enable them to have functions such as self-replication, self-regulation, self-repair, response to the environment, and self-sustainment.
Recently, researchers from Imperial College and Massachusetts Institute of Technology took inspiration from a fermented tea, developed a new method of making these living materials, and created "living substances" that can be used to purify and filter water.
This research was published in the recent "Nature·Materials".
In the past, studies have used non-food microorganisms such as Escherichia coli and filamentous fungi to cultivate ELM, but this technology faces challenges in large-scale production of ELM, making it impossible to widely use ELM.
For example, in 2014, Timothy Lu, a professor of electrical engineering and bioengineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, used E.
coli to generate biofilms embedded in materials such as gold nanowires.
However, these films are very small and thin, making it difficult to be used in most large-scale application scenarios.
The new research was inspired by Kombucha, a fermented black tea, and found a new method of using microorganisms to produce ELM.
Kombucha is a popular "net celebrity" beverage in recent years.
It is a tea made by fermenting black tea, sugar water and yeast strains.
It is also called kombucha. Kombucha is a mixture of many different types of bacteria and yeasts.
These mixtures are referred to as SCOBY, which means "symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast".
They usually contain one type of bacteria and more than one type of yeast.
bacteria.
SCOBY is like a fermentation factory that can produce ethanol, cellulose, acetic acid, etc.
, giving kombucha a unique flavor.
Researchers want to create a microbial population similar to Kombucha to develop the potential for mass production of ELM.
Using bacteria and yeast similar to kombucha can create "living material".
Image source: Tzu-Chieh (Zijay) Tang Since most wild yeast strains used for fermentation are difficult to genetically modify, in the new study, the researchers used a kind of yeast called Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) Laboratory yeast replaced wild yeast, and then combined Saccharomyces cerevisiae with a bacterium called Komagataeibacter rhaeticus.
Komagataeibacter rhaeticus is a bacterium that was isolated from kombucha a few years ago by Tom Ellis, professor of bioengineering at Imperial College London.
This bacterium can produce a lot of cellulose.
In the experiment, the strategy adopted by the researchers is to first focus on the modification of yeast cells.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a widely used laboratory yeast strain.
Researchers can easily use bioengineering techniques to modify their cells to have various possible functions.
At the same time, the Komagataeibacter rhaeticus bacteria in the petri dish will produce a lot of tough cellulose.
In the experiment, researchers can control whether the yeast itself is integrated into the cellulose structure or whether the enzymes produced by the yeast enter the cellulose structure through design.
The researchers set up a piece of engineered living material, which is a piece of tough cellulose that can be embedded with enzymes or living cells.
Image source: Tzu-Chieh (Zijay) Tang uses a mixture of yeast and bacteria to successfully produce cellulose embedded with enzymes that can perform various functions, such as sensing pollutants in the environment and being able to stay in the dark It can even decompose pollutants in the environment.
In the future, humans can even use this method to supplement nutrition.
For example, patients with insufficient metabolism can benefit from drinking fermented tea that can produce nutrients and release therapeutic proteins.
In addition, with this method, ELM will be formed in just a few days.
As it is placed for a longer time, it will grow thicker, even to the extent that it can occupy a space as large as a bathtub, realizing the mass production of ELM.
Image source: Imperial College London At present, the cultivation of microorganisms involved in ELM technology requires well-trained professionals and a strict experimental environment, which hinders the public's access to this technology.
The operation involved in the new method is very simple, theoretically almost everyone can do it in their own kitchen.
Professor Lu said: "We foresee a future where many different materials can be manufactured at home or in local production facilities through biotechnology, rather than resource-intensive centralized manufacturing.
"#Creation Team: Text: Sugar Beast Picture: Yue Yue# Reference source: https://news.
mit.
edu/2021/living-materials-kombucha-0111 https://doi.
org/10.
1038/s41563-020-00857 -5 https://scienmag.
com/scientists-create-living-materials-using-kombucha-inspired-microbial-mixture/https:// -lets-scientists-create/# Image source: Cover image: Silhouette1 / Pixabay Illustration: Tzu-Chieh (Zijay) Tang / MITImperial College London
For example, we make trees into building materials, cotton into textiles, and microbes are transformed into fuels and medicines through bioengineering.
In the manufacture of many things.
.
.
In recent years, a new research field has emerged in materials science and synthetic biology.
Scientists engaged in this kind of new research try to engineer cells and microorganisms to create a series of living characteristics.
"Engineered living materials (ELM)" enable them to have functions such as self-replication, self-regulation, self-repair, response to the environment, and self-sustainment.
Recently, researchers from Imperial College and Massachusetts Institute of Technology took inspiration from a fermented tea, developed a new method of making these living materials, and created "living substances" that can be used to purify and filter water.
This research was published in the recent "Nature·Materials".
In the past, studies have used non-food microorganisms such as Escherichia coli and filamentous fungi to cultivate ELM, but this technology faces challenges in large-scale production of ELM, making it impossible to widely use ELM.
For example, in 2014, Timothy Lu, a professor of electrical engineering and bioengineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, used E.
coli to generate biofilms embedded in materials such as gold nanowires.
However, these films are very small and thin, making it difficult to be used in most large-scale application scenarios.
The new research was inspired by Kombucha, a fermented black tea, and found a new method of using microorganisms to produce ELM.
Kombucha is a popular "net celebrity" beverage in recent years.
It is a tea made by fermenting black tea, sugar water and yeast strains.
It is also called kombucha. Kombucha is a mixture of many different types of bacteria and yeasts.
These mixtures are referred to as SCOBY, which means "symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast".
They usually contain one type of bacteria and more than one type of yeast.
bacteria.
SCOBY is like a fermentation factory that can produce ethanol, cellulose, acetic acid, etc.
, giving kombucha a unique flavor.
Researchers want to create a microbial population similar to Kombucha to develop the potential for mass production of ELM.
Using bacteria and yeast similar to kombucha can create "living material".
Image source: Tzu-Chieh (Zijay) Tang Since most wild yeast strains used for fermentation are difficult to genetically modify, in the new study, the researchers used a kind of yeast called Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) Laboratory yeast replaced wild yeast, and then combined Saccharomyces cerevisiae with a bacterium called Komagataeibacter rhaeticus.
Komagataeibacter rhaeticus is a bacterium that was isolated from kombucha a few years ago by Tom Ellis, professor of bioengineering at Imperial College London.
This bacterium can produce a lot of cellulose.
In the experiment, the strategy adopted by the researchers is to first focus on the modification of yeast cells.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a widely used laboratory yeast strain.
Researchers can easily use bioengineering techniques to modify their cells to have various possible functions.
At the same time, the Komagataeibacter rhaeticus bacteria in the petri dish will produce a lot of tough cellulose.
In the experiment, researchers can control whether the yeast itself is integrated into the cellulose structure or whether the enzymes produced by the yeast enter the cellulose structure through design.
The researchers set up a piece of engineered living material, which is a piece of tough cellulose that can be embedded with enzymes or living cells.
Image source: Tzu-Chieh (Zijay) Tang uses a mixture of yeast and bacteria to successfully produce cellulose embedded with enzymes that can perform various functions, such as sensing pollutants in the environment and being able to stay in the dark It can even decompose pollutants in the environment.
In the future, humans can even use this method to supplement nutrition.
For example, patients with insufficient metabolism can benefit from drinking fermented tea that can produce nutrients and release therapeutic proteins.
In addition, with this method, ELM will be formed in just a few days.
As it is placed for a longer time, it will grow thicker, even to the extent that it can occupy a space as large as a bathtub, realizing the mass production of ELM.
Image source: Imperial College London At present, the cultivation of microorganisms involved in ELM technology requires well-trained professionals and a strict experimental environment, which hinders the public's access to this technology.
The operation involved in the new method is very simple, theoretically almost everyone can do it in their own kitchen.
Professor Lu said: "We foresee a future where many different materials can be manufactured at home or in local production facilities through biotechnology, rather than resource-intensive centralized manufacturing.
"#Creation Team: Text: Sugar Beast Picture: Yue Yue# Reference source: https://news.
mit.
edu/2021/living-materials-kombucha-0111 https://doi.
org/10.
1038/s41563-020-00857 -5 https://scienmag.
com/scientists-create-living-materials-using-kombucha-inspired-microbial-mixture/https:// -lets-scientists-create/# Image source: Cover image: Silhouette1 / Pixabay Illustration: Tzu-Chieh (Zijay) Tang / MITImperial College London
