We usually use electric bulbs such as incandescent bulbs, fluorescent bulbs, halogen lamps, neon lights, LEDs ... but there is a new kind of electric bulb, which is a bioelectric balloon, glowing by bacteria.
Three young researchers are students from the University of Wisconsin (USA) hope this kind of bioelectric balloon can be widely used in the market.
Bioelectric ballast developed by Zaiken's team
Michael Zaiken, one of the authors of the work, said: " Bioelectric ballasts are essentially a dual ecosystem. It contains many different micro-organisms, each of which recycles nutrients from other species to survive. '
The most important component of this dual ecosystem is the genetically modified Escherichia coli (E.coli), a bacterium commonly found in human gut and some animals. Usually, they do not glow in the dark.
Zaiken and the other two members inserted a DNA loop from luminescence, fireflies, squid, or some other luminescent species into E. coli so they could glow.
One of the challenges now is to find a way to keep DNA encoding bioluminescence in E.coli as existing as replicating cells. 'We are currently working to keep the bioluminescence gene stable for a long time , ' ' Zaiken said.
This bioelectric ballast does not need power supply and can glow for months. It has not yet appeared on the market.
