Researchers created a wallet and part of shoe by genetically engineering kombucha bacteria to produce melanin
Researchers made this wallet using a bacterially grown material that dyed itself black thanks to the addition of melanin pigments.For sustainability-minded fashionistas, materials made by fast-growing, eco-friendly bacteria offer an appealing alternative to leather or faux plastic replacements such as “pleather.” Yet coloring or adding patterns to these bacterial textiles can still mean working with environmentally harmful dyes.
Researchers from Imperial College London wondered whether bacteria could be coaxed into producing cellulose that was naturally dark-colored. To find out, they genetically engineered a cellulose-producing bacterium,—the same bacterium that helps ferment kombucha—by adding a gene from another bacterium that produces black melanin pigment. Melanin is what gives color to tissue throughout the natural world, including human skin, eyes, and hair.
The researchers also created designs on the textiles by genetically engineering the kombucha bacteria to produce melanin pigment only when exposed to blue light, which was projected in patterns onto the sheet of cellulose.
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