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Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley have developed a protective "space suit" for bacteria that allows them to survive in hostile environments that would otherwise be deadly.
These protective suits combine bacteria with light-absorbing semiconductors, giving these organisms the ability to capture carbon dioxide from the environment and turn it into valuable chemicals of value to the industry – and maybe even to space colonies.
The researchers created a patchwork resembling a mesh of molecules containing metal atoms, called a metal-organic framework (MOF), for the study. This framework limits the movement of oxygen and its reactive compounds, such as peroxide, through them.
The "space suit" wraps around the bacteria that grows as the bacteria grows and breeds. It protects them throughout the reactive oxygen, one of the main chemical compounds against which space suits protect astronauts. Image Courtesy: UCB
"You can think of the 2D MOF as a graphene sheet: a thick coat of one layer that covers the bacteria," said Omar Yaghi, co-author of the study. The Berkeley press.
"The MOF 2D floats in solution with the bacteria. As the bacteria replicate, they are covered over before the 2D MOF layer, which protects the bacteria from oxygen. "
These reactive oxygen species (ROS) are harmful to bacteria and humans, and can be deadly to organisms over a range of quantities.
This new hybrid bacteria-semiconductor can live carbon dioxide and light and create different types of compounds based on the unique metabolic system of the bacteria. The reaction essentially involves capturing carbon atoms and building complex molecules with an agent – in this case, the hybrid bacteria.
When it is fed with cadmium (an electron source), the bacteria adorn itself with cadmium sulfide particles that absorb light, creating an artificial photosynthesis system – a hybrid – that converts light from the body. sun and carbon dioxide in organic compounds. Image Courtesy: UCB
Not only does this new hybrid capture excess carbon dioxide from the ecosystem, it also helps create useful chemicals in environments such as spacecraft and other planets where the environment is unstable. environment is inhospitable to humans.
"Once you have repaired or activated the CO2… And this is the hardest part … you can use many existing chemical and biological approaches to turn them into fuels, pharmaceuticals and basic chemicals, "said Peidong Yang, senior author of the department's chemistry department. University of Berkeley, university press.
Research funded by NASA has been pre-published in the newspaper Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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