Iranian researchers develop bacterial "transistors" to enable intelligent plant systems

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Iranian researchers develop bacterial "transistors" to enable intelligent plant systems

27.08.26

Iranian researchers develop bacterial "transistors" to enable intelligent plant systems

The breakthrough could pave the way for biological computing circuits capable of detecting drought, pests and other environmental conditions directly through plant tissues

Photo source: Khanchit Khirisutchalual / iStock

Iranian researchers working with scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed modified bacterial cells capable of functioning as biological transistors, opening a potential pathway towards computing systems that could allow plants to detect and respond to environmental changes. This is reported by NourNews, a TV BRICS partner.

The research, led by Iranian scientist Hamid Doosthosseini, focuses on creating fundamental components of computer architecture within living cells. Rather than building an entire biological circuit inside a single cell, the researchers engineered individual bacterial cells to perform the role of transistors.

The approach could eventually enable researchers to connect these biological transistors in different configurations and build more complex computing circuits capable of processing biological signals.

Each engineered cell can detect the presence of a specific target molecule and, depending on the result, transmit a signal to another component of the circuit. By combining multiple cells, scientists could potentially create systems capable of recognising several biological or environmental signals and producing a corresponding response.

“This allowed us to develop some of the fundamental components of computer architecture that are widely used," the scientist said.

The work represents a different approach to synthetic biology, where researchers typically engineer cells to produce particular proteins or transcription factors that interact with one another to perform specific functions, such as recognising a target molecule and generating an output.

By treating individual cells as modular computing components, the researchers aim to make biological circuits more flexible and scalable.

One potential future application is the development of circuits that could be placed on plant leaves or roots. Such systems could process signals generated by the plant's environment and identify conditions such as drought or pest attacks.

If developed further, plant-based biological computing could allow plants to act not only as biological organisms responding to their surroundings, but also as platforms for environmental sensing and information processing.

The technology remains at the research stage, and further work will be required before such circuits can be integrated into living plants and reliably used outside laboratory environments. Nevertheless, the development of bacterial cells capable of performing transistor-like functions marks a step towards combining synthetic biology with computing and could contribute to new approaches to agricultural monitoring and plant health.