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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Light-powered bacteria become living chemical factories

Engineered Escherichia coli could open the door to more sustainable routes to new drugs and other chemicals.
Close-up of E. coli bacteria in a petri dish

Escherichia coli cultures can produce compounds that aren’t found in nature when activated by light. Credit: Choksawatdikorn/Science Photo Library

Bacteria can be turned into living factories that churn out complex molecules using reactions catalysed by light1.

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Nature 650, 10 (2026)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-00275-8

References

  1. Yuan, Y., Li, M., Harrison, W., Zhang, Z. & Zhao, H. Nature Catal. 9, 62–72 (2026).

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