Control bacterial genes with the flick of a switch

摘要

We don't usually welcome bugs in digital technology, but that's about to change. Researchers have developed a way to control bacterial genes at the flick of a switch using electricity. Synthetic biologists are eager to find ways to connect engineered organisms to electronics, so we can make living components for devices. The ability of custom-made microbes to sense the environment and make biological molecules would be particularly valuable for devices that work inside the body, says William Bentley at the University of Maryland.