MIT builds living bacterial circuit boards

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, led by Christopher Voigt and Hamid Hosseini, engineered bacteria to function as transistors, creating living 'circuit boards' that process chemical signals. Published in Nature Chemical Biology, the study used Pantoea agglomerans to build two transistor types and three relay strains, enabling logic operations, addition, and demultiplexing. The largest circuit contained 24 colonies. The technology aims to enable plants to sense and respond to environmental stresses like drought or pests, potentially producing fungicides. The research was funded by the United States — DARPA and the United States — DARPA.