Sustainable Photonic Pigments Made of Bacteria

由细菌制成的可持续光子颜料

• 批准号: BB/V00364X/1
• 负责人: Silvia Vignolini
• 金额: $ 41.62万
• 依托单位: University of Cambridge
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FV00364X%2F1
• 关键词: Sustainable; Photonic; Pigments; Made; Bacteria

Pigments are ubiquitous components of our everyday life as they are used for colouring several materials including paint, ink, fabrics, food and cosmetics. However, the manufacturing process of conventional pigments places a high burden on the environment, as it consumes high energy and resources, among them, irreplaceable petroleum. Moreover, many traditional pigments pose high risks for human health as they contain heavy metals or inorganic particles. Additionally, their production requires hazardous substances and mining for mineral pigments, in particular in developing countries, have devastating effects both for the environment and society. Our project aims at the development of new bio-based pigments that are sustainable, bio-compatible and easily scalable for mass production. In particular, we want to develop a methodology to exploit bacteria as building blocks for pigments. The vision of this research proposal is to harness the ability of bacteria to show bright colouration as a result of the physical organisation of cells within colonies. Their colouration is therefore not caused by pigmentation, but it is due to sub-micron organisation, which function as photonic crystals reflecting light only at specific wavelengths. This phenomenon is called "structural colour" and is at the base of the colouration of many living organisms (e.g. the peacock feathers or morpho butterfly wings). Depending on the size of the nanostructures, a specific colour is reflected and, depending on the regularity of the patterned areas, the effect can be matte (angularly independent ) or metallic iridescent (strongly affected by the viewing angle). Recently, in collaboration with the SME Hoekmine BV, under the remit of BBSRC-funded research, we show that we can genetically modify marine flavobacteria. We were able to change their organisation and their motility, thereby altering their interactions with lights. As a consequence, we were able to change their colour and to tune it in the entire visible spectrum from blue to red. The ambition of this proposal is to move forward from this proof-of-concept and produce bio-based commercial pigments to replace synthetic counterparts in paints and beyond. We foresee this bacteria-based pigment production to be entirely bio-compatible as the bacterial strains, all consumables for bioengineering, fermentation, and the supporting substrates are conceived to be safe and fully biodegradable. The project has the potential to fulfil an ever-growing market and consumer demand of bio-materials, in the effort to establish a more sustainable and circular economy. For this reason, it has received a strong endorsement from a vast network of pigment manufacturers interested in the outcome of this work. Using bacteria to make pigments is indeed very promising for producers, as this strategy is expected to lower costs by producing bacteria in the desired quantities, other than reducing the ecological impact and health risks associated with the synthetic pigments. Also, the produced pigments are expected to present the significant advantage of increased colour stability, as the colouration does not depend on the chemical composition but on the physical properties of the colonies, making the colour very stable against bleaching. Finally, we believe that the methodologies developed in this project pave the way towards the exploitation of bacteria for the fabrication of new bio-based, renewable materials. We foresee these materials to be relevant to several commercial applications beyond the paint and coating sectors (e.g., cosmetics, food additives, and drug delivery) and to have enormous societal and environmental benefits.

颜料是我们日常生活中无处不在的组成部分，因为它们用于为多种材料着色，包括油漆、墨水、织物、食品和化妆品。然而，传统颜料的制造过程对环境造成了很大的负担，因为它消耗大量的能源和资源，其中石油是不可替代的。此外，许多传统颜料含有重金属或无机颗粒，对人体健康构成很高的风险。此外，它们的生产需要有害物质，而矿物颜料的开采，特别是在发展中国家，对环境和社会都有破坏性影响。我们的项目旨在开发可持续、生物相容且易于大规模生产的新型生物基颜料。特别是，我们希望开发一种利用细菌作为颜料构建块的方法。这项研究计划的愿景是利用细菌由于菌落内细胞的物理组织而显示出明亮颜色的能力。因此，它们的着色不是由色素沉着引起的，而是由亚微米组织造成的，亚微米组织的作用就像光子晶体一样，仅反射特定波长的光。这种现象称为“结构色”，是许多生物体（例如孔雀羽毛或大闪蝶翅膀）着色的基础。根据纳米结构的尺寸，会反射出特定的颜色，并且根据图案区域的规则性，效果可以是哑光（与角度无关）或金属虹彩（受视角强烈影响）。最近，在 BBSRC 资助的研究范围内，我们与 SME Hoekmine BV 合作，证明我们可以对海洋黄细菌进行基因改造。我们能够改变它们的组织和运动，从而改变它们与光的相互作用。因此，我们能够改变它们的颜色，并在整个可见光谱中将其调整为从蓝色到红色。该提案的目标是从这一概念验证出发，生产生物基商业颜料，以取代油漆及其他领域的合成颜料。我们预计这种基于细菌的颜料生产将是完全生物相容的，因为细菌菌株、生物工程、发酵的所有消耗品和支持基质都被认为是安全且完全可生物降解的。该项目有潜力满足生物材料不断增长的市场和消费者需求，努力建立更加可持续和循环的经济。因此，它得到了对这项工作成果感兴趣的广大颜料制造商网络的强烈认可。使用细菌制造颜料对于生产商来说确实非常有前途，因为这种策略除了减少与合成颜料相关的生态影响和健康风险之外，还可以通过生产所需数量的细菌来降低成本。此外，所生产的颜料预计将具有增加颜色稳定性的显着优势，因为着色不取决于化学成分，而是取决于菌落的物理性质，使得颜色非常稳定，不会漂白。最后，我们相信该项目开发的方法为利用细菌制造新型生物基可再生材料铺平了道路。我们预计这些材料将与油漆和涂料领域之外的多种商业应用（例如化妆品、食品添加剂和药物输送）相关，并具有巨大的社会和环境效益。

项目成果

Cellulose Photonic Pigments

纤维素光子颜料

• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2110.00410
• 发表时间: 2021
• 作者: Parker R

Revealing the Structural Coloration of Self-Assembled Chitin Nanocrystal Films.

揭示自组装甲壳素纳米晶体薄膜的结构着色。

• DOI: 10.17863/cam.84855
• 发表时间: 2022
• 作者: Narkevicius A

Exploiting the Thermotropic Behavior of Hydroxypropyl Cellulose to Produce Edible Photonic Pigments

利用羟丙基纤维素的热致行为来生产可食用光子颜料

• DOI: 10.1002/adsu.202200469
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Advanced Sustainable Systems
• 影响因子: 7.1
• 作者: Ming S

Cellulose photonic pigments.

纤维素光子颜料。

• DOI: 10.17863/cam.86544
• 发表时间: 2022
• 作者: Parker R

Structural Color from Cellulose Nanocrystals or Chitin Nanocrystals: Self-Assembly, Optics and Applications

纤维素纳米晶体或甲壳素纳米晶体的结构颜色：自组装、光学和应用

• DOI: 10.17863/cam.101557
• 发表时间: 2023
• 作者: Frka-Petesic B