Scientists Engineer New Living Materials by Hacking The Basis of Kombucha
12 JANUARY 2021
Scientists have created new kinds of living materials by tweaking the base ingredients of kombucha – the popular tea drink fermented with a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (aka SCOBY).
This kind of tea fungus – sometimes called kombucha mother – can do a lot more than just produce sour-tasting beverages, it seems.
By modifying the mixture of the culture, researchers were able to make engineered living materials (ELMs) that could one day have all sorts of practical applications, such as sensing light or detecting contaminants.
Better still, the scientists say these living materials can easily be made at home, much like tending a sourdough starter in your kitchen.
In a recent and timely paper, currently available on the bioRxiv preprint server, researchers from Israel and France demonstrated how in vitro evolution of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) receptor-binding domain (RBD) follows contagious mutation spread – but can also generate an efficient infection inhibitor.
Researchers at Tel Aviv University are soon going to introduce a method where dairy products can be produced from yeast instead of cows.Behind this development is Professor Tamir Tuller from the Biome
Now, an intriguing recent study appeared on the bioRxiv preprint server describes the use of in vitro evolution to elicit affinity maturation of the viral receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein to bind the host cell angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) with greater affinity.