Chapter 1145 Prototype of Future Biological Engine

Bacterial flagella can also be called bacterial flagellar filaments.

It is part of the bacteria's drive system. The drive system consists of a motor base, a rotation motor and a bacterial flagellum. This set can also be called a bacterial flagellar motor, and the main material is only protein.

The flagellar motor is like a gear, which quickly transfers the mechanical energy converted by the proton pump to the flagellar filament without any loss, and then the flagellar filament rotates rapidly, pushing the bacteria forward.

This kind of transmission efficiency is very high, allowing bacteria to travel dozens of times their own depth in less than a second. Not only does it move forward quickly, it also turns very quickly and is very flexible.

The diameter is generally forty-five nanometers and the length is several microns. Now the bacterial flagellar motors observed by Qu Ping have far exceeded this scale, and there are still many of them. This means that this is not an accidental mutation, but the formation of a stable new generation of larger bacteria with larger and faster flagella. motor.

Under natural conditions, it is not ruled out that there are 100,000 revolutions per minute, and it may not have been discovered by humans. Similar to E. coli, the flagella rotate at tens of thousands of revolutions per minute. But this is already the limit, not to mention that the volume is far from the mutant bacteria currently discovered.

The largest known bacterium in the world is Namibia's Thiolobicus pallidum, which was discovered by humans in the seabed sediments of the Namibian Sea and can be seen with the naked eye.

Ordinary bacteria are at the level of 0.5 to 5 microns, Sulfothococcus is 0.1 to 0.3 mm, and the largest is even 0.75 mm. Now the bacteria discovered by Qu Ping can easily exceed 2 centimeters.

The diameter is hundreds of times that of ordinary bacteria, and the volume is already millions of times.

What is the concept? The difference between a newborn mouse and a blue whale is not that big, maybe it is the difference between a mouse and Mount Everest.

Such sulfide bacteria do not grow in an oxygen environment, but poisonous hydrogen sulfide is hidden in the sediment. The nitrate in the cells oxidizes and decomposes the sulfide to obtain energy. In other words, carbon-based organisms can only grow to such a large size in an anaerobic and hypoxic environment.

The laboratory of Changtian Technology is a normal environment. This environment is designed to fit the actual production conditions, so that the produced things can enter the production process under ordinary conditions.

If a production theory requires too harsh conditions, it will be thrown into the trash can.

Otherwise, you can only work in the laboratory, and finally you have to improve it to a normal environment to be considered successful. Therefore, no one understands how such large bacteria came from.

Since you don’t know, then do experiments to find out. First do qualitative experiments to find out the environmental conditions under which new bacteria appear. This is not difficult. As long as you carefully investigate the laboratory data, you can get the conditions of the environment and nutrient solution.

Then conduct a detailed analysis of the substances in the petri dish to obtain the pH, elemental composition and ratio.

The next step is to do subtraction and transplant the new bacteria from the original petri dish to the new petri dish to see if new bacteria can be cultivated continuously and stably.

After two hours, the bacteria took shape. This speed is also surprising. This is equivalent to the blue whale taking 40 to 50 years to grow to a fully mature body, which is 30 meters long and weighs 180 tons.

Now here comes a little blue whale, which has grown to several times the size of a fully mature body in fifteen years. Grow faster and have a higher ceiling.

But at present, it is difficult to break through the upper limit. The new bacteria cultured in new petri dishes are actually smaller than the original ones.

This means that there are some things in the original petri dish that the new petri dish does not have, and this kind of thing should be produced by the interaction between different bacterial colonies, and is very effective for the growth of bacteria.

Then, continue subtraction to find the groups of bacteria that interact with each other.

According to Qu Ping's observation and analysis, such new cells have broken away from the original colony characteristics, which means that they are hybrid new cells.

The first task is to first find out the types of bacteria involved in the hybridization, to see whether it is a mixture of two countries or three countries, and then restore it.

This process is not easy to handle. The DNA of these bacteria is relatively close and they are close relatives. Some of them are independent coexistences and mutually beneficial relationships. It's really as chaotic as a game of Go, and every change is possible.

This is a job that requires considerable patience, time and energy.

Many people don't understand the meaning of this, and they all think that since we have high-quality varieties, wouldn't it be enough to let them continue to reproduce on their own? Why go backwards to find the source?

This is because we need to find the reasons for the emergence of new species, trace their origins, and find the original DNA.

In this way, even if one day these new varieties cannot reproduce, they can still start from the original genes and cultivate this variety.

Gene richness is very important, which means that in addition to existing new varieties, newer and more powerful new varieties can be developed.

Take rice as an example. Why would the God of Agriculture look for some primitive wild rice?

That is to find original, abundant genes and select them from scratch.

Human beings have discovered that no matter which species they are, after continuous reproduction and development, the degree of genetic difference continues to shrink, even for humans. Some experts have determined that if reproduction continues like this, humans will eventually become extinct.

There used to be many human races. Later, with the exchange of humans, everyone's genes continued to get closer.

Ahem, that’s too far off topic. Anyway, increasing the types of genes and fixing them is very important for later selection and cultivation. To know this, you also need to know why.

Through genetic testing and backward reasoning, Qu Ping's team identified five bacterial colonies and finally found three bacterial colonies involved in the mutation. This is a very important result, which means that it can be cultivated accurately, and there is no need to pile everything into the petri dish during later cultivation, which is a waste of materials.

When the new bacteria were stably cultured again, Qu Ping breathed a sigh of relief. What she was most afraid of was that the cultured bacteria were either not big enough or the flagellar speed was not high enough. Now that both are alive, the basic requirements are met. The subsequent details will be dealt with slowly.

"Director, it's time to name it." The subordinate reminded in a low voice. It was inconvenient to call it by a code name for so long.

Qu Ping thought for a while and quickly named the bacteria "Cyclone Bacteria".

The cyclone bacteria have been cultured, and there is no shortage of follow-up observations. The most important thing is to understand the working principle and working limits.

Qu Ping discovered that this bacterium lives on the solution state or the energy block in the solution. When it takes a bite, it quickly converts the energy, transmitting it from the internal rotor to the flagellum, which then promotes the rapid movement of the bacterium and the conversion of energy. Almost as a rule.

This is an extremely remarkable discovery, which means that once this thing reaches a certain number, larger equipment can be moved quickly. The best thing is that there is no waste of energy at all. What's this? This is the prerequisite for biological engines!

Qu Ping even imagined that if the cyclone bacteria were continued to grow infinitely and then placed on the ship, how many knots would the ship's speed be?

If cyclone bacteria are used to stir the water flow, and the water flow drives the aircraft turbofan, what speed can the aircraft reach?

What about cars? What about tanks? All human means of transportation will be replaced by hot working engines.

With the rise of energy blocks, many cars have begun to abandon gasoline and choose to use energy blocks directly or travel by tram, but this involves an energy conversion ratio issue.

In the past, it was considered very powerful if the calorific value of a car engine could reach 40%, and it was not stable. This was laboratory data, not actual measured data. Even the actual measured data is a conclusion drawn under relatively good environmental conditions and cannot represent the complex and changeable driving environment.

This kind of energy utilization rate is too high. You don’t have to worry about pollution but you still have to consider the issue of utilization efficiency. If cyclone bacteria were made into a biological engine, it would be energy utilization with almost no loss. Then everyone’s travel costs will be lower in the future, just like everyone using controlled trains to travel.

The prospect became more and more wonderful as she thought about it. Qu Ping immediately contacted the team in the materials department and asked them to create a small submarine. The prerequisite was that it must be a biological product.

"How old?"

"About five centimeters is enough. It needs to have a relatively complete transmission system inside. If not, just give it a sealed shell."

"Oh, can I ask what you want to do?"

"Not yet, I will send you a schematic. Remember! It must be a biological product that can be cultivated and processed, not a metal mechanical product."

"All right."

Faced with such a strange request, the materials department didn't think much about it. Everyone performed their duties. Even if they had a cooperative relationship, they couldn't forcefully inquire into other people's secrets. This was against work discipline.

But what is the concept of a submarine made from biological products? This immediately makes people scratch their heads. I have never heard of submarines being trained.

"Head, how about we turn the diatom shell into a submarine? Anyway, the shipment of control channels has been huge recently."

"What a great idea! We can first use biofilm to build the framework of the submarine, and then fill the submarine's shell with diatom shells through the reproduction of diatoms. This will also meet the requirement that the submarine can be opened, so be it!"

The materials department had good hands-on skills and quickly produced several samples. After reading them, Qu Ping was very satisfied and took them back on the spot.

Open the "submarine" carefully, and then put the body of the cyclone into the submarine, and the flagella will be exposed.

As soon as it was put into the water, the submarine disappeared on the spot, so fast that no one could see clearly. The submarine painted with red dots had already reached the edge of the petri dish.

"Did you see the trajectory just now clearly?"

"I didn't see it, but fortunately it was recorded."

"Hurry up!"

The team got busy quickly. Good guy, at this speed, you can swim a hundred times your body length in one second. No one can see clearly without slow motion.

After catching another cyclone, he stuffed it into the small submarine.

If you do this, the petri dish the size of an ornamental fish tank will become messy.

These two cyclone fungi were covered with shells and had red dots, which were full of visual effects. They really had no vision, but they had things tied to their bodies, which made it uncomfortable for everyone, so these two whirlwind fungi ran around desperately. .

The strange thing is that no matter how they run around, they can't hit each other at all. Perhaps this speed is not too fast for them, just like two runners running towards each other, and the reaction time is sufficient.

After two hours, the two cyclone bacteria stopped moving.

"Eh? What's going on?"

"She must have starved to death. After traveling for so long, I couldn't eat while wearing a submarine, so..."

"That's right, I actually forgot about this... Now open the shell of the submarine and feed it alone. Maybe we can rescue it."

Things did develop like this. After a while, the two hungry cyclone bacteria leaned against the edge of the separate petri dish resentfully, feeling the breath of freedom. If they had mouths, they would probably curse a lot.

With the previous experience, I have an idea for the subsequent experiment. First, I feed a certain amount of food, then put on the submarine shell, and then shout "drive"! Then record how long the cyclone bacteria ran, how far it ran, how fast it ran, what its acceleration was, and finally the amount of work done per unit of heat was obtained.

The experiment lasted a whole day, and everyone's eyes were so tired that when they closed their eyes, they felt red dots shaking rapidly in front of their eyes.

Qu Ping originally didn't plan to report it. After all, this thing hasn't been completely stabilized yet, and all it does is preliminary experiments. What's there to report? If all progress was reported, wouldn't Chen Xiao be exhausted?

Unexpectedly, Chen Xiao walked into the laboratory easily, carrying a lot of fruits in his hands.

"Why are you here?" Qu Ping was so surprised that she put the pen and experimental folder on the table, walked over to pick up the fruit, and muttered, "I can't finish it even if I bring so much."

"Um, is it possible that this is for the whole team?"

The scene was instantly awkward. Qu Ping glanced at Chen Xiao resentfully. Doesn't this guy know how to comfort herself?

"Well, this is for you, can you share it with everyone?" Chen Xiao quickly changed his words, and Qu Ping bought it instantly.

The effect of the two sentences is actually the same, but the emphasis is different. It changes from everyone's to one's. This is called preference, which is very similar to love.

Qu Ping sighed softly, this man is so hard to get. Either we hope that society's etiquette will collapse and music will collapse, or we will break through our moral bottom line and don't know if we can win.

Chen Xiao has been very free recently, focusing on scientific research and inspecting everywhere. He happened to be here today to see if there are any problems that need to be solved and to see if there is any progress.

"Huh? Super flagella? No, super bacteria?" Chen Xiao became interested instantly, and after listening for a while, he thought of a lot, "We can use this to replace all existing mechanical equipment. Metal equipment becomes biological equipment, and biological equipment The engine can already be put on the agenda.”

"That's what I think too. It's not very stable yet. If we want to reach the engine's working capacity, we have to either accumulate the number of cyclone bacteria or increase the size of the cyclone bacteria. Either way, it will take time."

"Have you ever thought about changing the composition of the culture solution to speed up the culture?"

"I've thought about it, but I want to try it through genetic modification."