Living electronic transistors with tunable conductivity
- 1Princeton University
Abstract
Electroactive bacteria, like Shewanella oneidensis, can couple the oxidation of organic electron donors to the reduction of external conductive surfaces, such as minerals and electrodes, by utilizing multiheme cytochromes to carry charge from within the cell to external surfaces. Additionally, multiheme cytochromes facilitate gateable, long-distance (micrometer-scale) redox conduction along the outer membrane and across multiple cells bridging electrodes. While electroactive microbes are being used to develop bioelectrochemical devices, there have been limited efforts to use synthetic biology to exert additional control over microbes serving as device components. Thus, this work implements an optogenetic biofilm patterning gene circuit and a small molecule sensor in S. oneidensis to simultaneously control cell deposition and cytochrome expression. This allows for photolithographic patterning of biofilms possessing tunable electrical properties controlled with small molecules. This system demonstrates tunable electrochemical activity, redox conduction, intrinsic biofilm conductivity, and negative differential transconductance as a function of cytochrome expression. Additionally, temperature-dependent measurements of this tunable biofilm conduction reveal changes in activation energy as a function of cytochrome expression. Through this combination of synthetic biology and electrochemistry, simultaneous control over biofilm geometry and conductivity sheds light on fundamental microbial electron transport processes, and it enables the construction of living electronic devices.
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BibTeX
@misc{atkinson2026living,
title = {{Living electronic transistors with tunable conductivity}},
author = {J. T. Atkinson and M. S. Chavez and C. M. Niman and F. Zhao and M. S. Hwang and N. Sukenik and J. A. Gralnick and J. Q. Boedicker and M. Y. El-Naggar},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.01.748419},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.01.748419v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Living electronic transistors with tunable conductivity
AU - J. T. Atkinson
AU - M. S. Chavez
AU - C. M. Niman
AU - F. Zhao
AU - M. S. Hwang
AU - N. Sukenik
AU - J. A. Gralnick
AU - J. Q. Boedicker
AU - M. Y. El-Naggar
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/01
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.01.748419
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.01.748419v1
AB - Electroactive bacteria, like Shewanella oneidensis, can couple the oxidation of organic electron donors to the reduction of external conductive surfaces, such as minerals and electrodes, by utilizing multiheme cytochromes to carry charge from within the cell to external surfaces. Additionally, multiheme cytochromes facilitate gateable, long-distance (micrometer-scale) redox conduction along the outer membrane and across multiple cells bridging electrodes. While electroactive microbes are being used to develop bioelectrochemical devices, there have been limited efforts to use synthetic biology to exert additional control over microbes serving as device components. Thus, this work implements an optogenetic biofilm patterning gene circuit and a small molecule sensor in S. oneidensis to simultaneously control cell deposition and cytochrome expression. This allows for photolithographic patterning of biofilms possessing tunable electrical properties controlled with small molecules. This system demonstrates tunable electrochemical activity, redox conduction, intrinsic biofilm conductivity, and negative differential transconductance as a function of cytochrome expression. Additionally, temperature-dependent measurements of this tunable biofilm conduction reveal changes in activation energy as a function of cytochrome expression. Through this combination of synthetic biology and electrochemistry, simultaneous control over biofilm geometry and conductivity sheds light on fundamental microbial electron transport processes, and it enables the construction of living electronic devices.
ER -