« Back to blog

Artificial cells evolve proteins to structure semiconductors

A marine sponge that produces silicon dioxide fibers.

Scientists have applied genetic engineering to create proteins that can be used to create electronics. They've used the tools of molecular biology and principles of evolution to find proteins that can make new structures of silicon dioxide, commonly found in computer chips, and titanium dioxide, often used in solar cells.

Traditional genetic engineering involves sticking a foreign gene into bacteria and using the bacteria as tiny factories to make the protein encoded by that gene. This approach wouldn’t work for all silica-binding proteins found in marine sponges. The minerals produced by these proteins, which the researchers want to study, can kill the cells.

So Daniel Morse, of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his colleagues looked to another protein making strategy: synthetic cells with a tiny plastic bead nucleus surrounded by a bubble of oil that acts as a cell membrane.

Read more | Comments


from Ars Technica http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/06/artificial-cells-evolve-proteins-to-st...