Scientists breed enzymes to naturally create silicon-carbon bonds.
Silicon is the second most common element in the earth's crust, proceeded by Oxygen and followed by Aluminum. Iron the fifth most common element in the earth's crust has less than a fifth of the amount of Silicon. Silicon is one of the components of sand, along with many other things, which is known for it's abundance.(Sawe,2017)
Despite Silicon being so prevalent on this planet the bond between this element and Carbon is not so easily found. "Molecules with silicon-carbon, or organosilicon, compounds are found in pharmaceuticals as well as in many other products, including agricultural chemicals, paints, semiconductors, and computer and TV screens. Currently, these products are made synthetically, since the silicon-carbon bonds are not found in nature."(Clavin,2016)
This vital material of modern day life could only be made artificially by chemists through the use of precious metals and toxic material. However that was in the past and now thanks to Frances Arnold, lead investigator, and his team at Caltech. Taking a protein, called cytochrome c, that grows in hot springs in Iceland they mutated it's DNA coding.(Clavin,2016)
"After only three rounds [of selective breeding], they had created an enzyme that can selectively make silicon-carbon bonds 15 times more efficiently than the best catalyst invented by chemists. Furthermore, the enzyme is highly selective, which means that it makes fewer unwanted byproducts that have to be chemically separated out."(Clavin,2016)
This step forward can lead to cheaper and environmentally friendly ways of creating the synthesized products that have grown a part of the modern way of life.
Also this incorporation of silicon-carbon bonds into lifeforms, while not proving the possibility, has given hope to organosilicon based lifeforms. In an interview with Professor Frances Arnold and Postdoctoral Scholar Sek Bik Jennifer Kan about their research, Professor Arnold references Star Trek and the discovery of the Horta, "they're finding life inside of rocks [...] we're not actually trying to find life in rocks more like trying to put rocks in life".(caltech 2016)
Credit: Lei Chen and Yan Liang (BeautyOfScience.com) for Caltech
Refrences
[caltech]. (2016, Nov 24). Bringing Silicon to Life: Scientists Persuade Nature to Make Silicon-Carbon Bonds[Video File]. ----Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_OTCQ_fxuc
Table of Contents
Scientists breed enzymes to naturally create silicon-carbon bonds.
Silicon is the second most common element in the earth's crust, proceeded by Oxygen and followed by Aluminum.Iron the fifth most common element in the earth's crust has less than a fifth of the amount of Silicon. Silicon is one of the components of sand, along with many other things, which is known for it's abundance.(Sawe,2017)
Despite Silicon being so prevalent on this planet the bond between this element and Carbon is not so easily found. "Molecules with silicon-carbon, or organosilicon, compounds are found in pharmaceuticals as well as in many other products, including agricultural chemicals, paints, semiconductors, and computer and TV screens. Currently, these products are made synthetically, since the silicon-carbon bonds are not found in nature."(Clavin,2016)
This vital material of modern day life could only be made artificially by chemists through the use of precious metals and toxic material. However that was in the past and now thanks to Frances Arnold, lead investigator, and his team at Caltech. Taking a protein, called cytochrome c, that grows in hot springs in Iceland they mutated it's DNA coding.(Clavin,2016)
"After only three rounds [of selective breeding], they had created an enzyme that can selectively make silicon-carbon bonds 15 times more efficiently than the best catalyst invented by chemists. Furthermore, the enzyme is highly selective, which means that it makes fewer unwanted byproducts that have to be chemically separated out."(Clavin,2016)
This step forward can lead to cheaper and environmentally friendly ways of creating the synthesized products that have grown a part of the modern way of life.
Also this incorporation of silicon-carbon bonds into lifeforms, while not proving the possibility, has given hope to organosilicon based lifeforms. In an interview with Professor Frances Arnold and Postdoctoral Scholar Sek Bik Jennifer Kan about their research, Professor Arnold references Star Trek and the discovery of the Horta, "they're finding life inside of rocks [...] we're not actually trying to find life in rocks more like trying to put rocks in life".(caltech 2016)
Refrences
[caltech]. (2016, Nov 24). Bringing Silicon to Life: Scientists Persuade Nature to Make Silicon-Carbon Bonds [Video File].
----Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_OTCQ_fxuc
Clavin,W.(2016) Retrived from https://www.caltech.edu/news/bringing-silicon-life-53049
Sawe,B.(2017). Retrieved from https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-most-abundant-elements-in-the-earth-s-crust.html
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