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Bacteria find work as amateur chemists

Nature Methods volume 2, page 6 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

New evidence demonstrating that certain bacterial strains can synthesize semiconductor nanocrystals through endogenous pathways may open the door to new strategies for the biosynthesis of unnatural materials and compounds.

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Figure 1: Electron microscope images show that ABLE C cells in stationary phase (a) contain substantial deposits of cadmium sulfide nanocrystals, whereas cells in late log phase (b) do not.

References

  1. Sweeney, R.Y. et al. Bacterial biosynthesis of cadmium sulfide nanocrystals. Chem. Biol. 11, 1553–1559 (2004).

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  2. Mao, C. et al. Viral assembly of oriented quantum dot nanowires. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100, 6946–6951 (2003).

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  3. Dameron, C.T. et al. Biosynthesis of cadmium sulphide quantum semiconductor crystallites. Nature 338, 596–597 (1989).

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Authors
  1. Michael Eisenstein
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Eisenstein, M. Bacteria find work as amateur chemists. Nat Methods 2, 6 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth0105-6a

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth0105-6a

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