Microbes can be used directly as a dye, which can penetrate into fabric fibers and saturate
them purple.In addition, the genome of microbes can be modified so that the dye becomes green or yellow. In the future, this will make it possible to generate bacterial paints of any color, which will allow us to get rid of toxic solvents and by-products of the production of synthetic paints.Research text
The paint in question was discovered in ancientPhenicia approximately 3.6 thousand years ago. For the first time, they tried to recreate it in a laboratory in 2010. However, the technology was not suitable for production on an industrial scale.
In order to receivethe substance dibromondigo, which makes up the paint, a group of scientists inserted into the DNA of common E. coli (Escherichia coli) the genes that are needed for the synthesis of this compound.
Thus, E. coli seems to have learned to capture tryptophan and bromine salts to produce a dye.
The team also created several modifications of E. coli to create not only purple, but also red, brown, blue and beige counterparts.
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