Sustainable construction: Toward growing biocement with synthetic biology

Abstract

The built environment contributes to global carbon dioxide emissions with carbon-emitting building materials and construction processes. While achieving carbon-neutral construction is not feasible with conventional construction methods, microbial-based construction processes were suggested over three decades ago to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. With time, questions regarding scaling, predictability, and the applicability of microbial growth and biomass production emerged and still needed to be resolved to allow manufacturing. Within this opinion, we will discuss what can be achieved not to ‘grow a building’ per se but to ‘grow environmentally friendly biocement’. Elaborate pathways leading to the formation of cementitious materials by genetically manipulatable microorganisms have been described so far, providing options to enhance the suitability of these pathways for construction with synthetic biology and bio-convergence. These processes can also be combined with additional beneficial properties of cement-producing organisms, such as antimicrobial properties and carbon fixation by photosynthesis. Therefore, while we cannot yet ’grow a building’, we can grow and design biocement for the construction industry.

The Utilization of Bacillus subtilis to Design Environmentally Friendly Living Paints with Anti-Mold Properties

“…B. subtilis is an optimal candidate for anti-mold paint, as it generates mineralized layer, with antibacterial and antifungal properties [ 54 ]. A significant part of the genome of this bacterium (4%) is dedicated to making secondary metabolites [ 55 ], including broad-spectrum antibacterial and antifungal agents [ 8 ].…”