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UC San Diego researchers have engineered bacteria to produce octopus pigment, potentially revolutionizing cosmetics, textiles and military applications.
SAN DIEGO — Researchers at UC San Diego have successfully engineered bacteria to produce octopus pigment, opening the door to revolutionary applications in sunscreen, cosmetics, paint, textiles and military protection.
Bradley Moore, director of the Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and former lab member Leah Bushin led the groundbreaking work that decoded the octopus’s legendary ability to blend seamlessly into any environment. “It’s one of those superpowers of nature that fascinates us,” said Moore.
The octopus achieves its remarkable camouflage through a chemical compound called xanthommatin, the same pigment found in the wings of monarch butterflies and the eyes of flies. Moore’s team extracted DNA from an octopus, identified related DNA from bacteria, and inserted that genetic material into another bacterial strain, essentially training the new bacteria to produce the octopus pigment.
“We took DNA out of an octopus, found DNA related to it from a bacteria, and put that into another bacteria and trained that new bacteria to make this octopus pigment,” said Moore.
The breakthrough came when the engineered bacteria began producing the pigment in significant quantities. “It made a lot of this material, and that’s what got us super excited about being able to use this octopus pigment,” said Moore. “Something we haven’t been able to study in science before.”
Following the patent of their discovery, Moore’s lab has entered what he describes as a “playtime” phase, where students continue refining the pigment’s properties. “This allows us to manipulate the pigment and the absorbance of the compound to achieve different colors and different properties,” said Maxwell Grabovac, a student working in the lab.
The potential applications have attracted significant business interest, with companies seeking bio-inspired alternatives to fossil fuels. The pigment could revolutionize industries ranging from cosmetics to military applications.
