Yeast is getting a boost from solar power
Genetically engineered microbes such as bacteria and yeasts have long been used as living factories to produce drugs and fine chemicals. More recently, researchers have started to combine bacteria with semiconductor technology that, similar to solar panels on a roof, harvests energy from light and, when coupled to the microbes’ surface, boosts their biosynthetic potential. The first “biological-inorganic hybrid systems,” or biohybrids, largely focused on fixing atmospheric carbon dioxide and producing alternative energies. While they were promising, they also revealed key challenges. For example, semiconductors, which are made from toxic metals, to date have been assembled directly on bacterial cells, which they often damage in the process. In addition, the focus on carbon-fixing microbes has limited the range of products to relatively simple molecules. If biohybrids could be created based on microorganisms equipped with more complex metabolisms, it would open new paths for production of a much wider range of chemicals...