The institute's scientists learn the secrets of photosynthesis from plants in order to develop clean and sustainable sources of energy that will replace the use of fossil fuels
"No one is as wise as one who has experience", therefore, when it comes to designing and building efficient solar cells, certain tiny creatures enjoy a huge advantage over humans. These are organisms that carry out photosynthesis, such as plants, algae and various types of bacteria. These creatures cultivated and perfected their abilities over millions of years of evolution, and thus managed to optimally design a mechanism for absorbing light. This sophisticated mechanism allows the photosynthetic organisms (which carry out photosynthesis) to use sunlight and simple substances - water and carbon dioxide - for the purpose of creating sugars and other high-energy substances, which fuel their biological activity.
Dr. Dror Noy, from the Department of Plant Sciences at the Weizmann Institute of Science, draws inspiration from photosynthetic organisms in order to develop clean and sustainable energy sources that will replace the use of fossil fuels. The guiding line of his work is the design and production of a system for converting solar energy, based on the biological principles of natural photosynthesis, using biological building blocks. The building blocks that Dr. Noy plans to use are small and durable structures called "protein maquettes" that were developed by a group of scientists at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, where Dr. Noy did his post-doctoral research. Model proteins, like natural proteins, are composed of amino acids, but they appear in a sequence unrelated to any known natural protein. In his current research, at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Dr. Noy plans to carry out various manipulations of the model proteins, and to insert pigments and other substances into them that are required to create a photosynthetic array.
The process of photosynthesis takes place in two main stages. In the first stage, the "light stage", a pigment molecule receives the sunlight, and transfers the light energy to a nearby reaction center. The increase in the energy level in the reaction center causes the release of electrons, which are transferred in a chain of reactions - a process leading to the conversion of light energy into chemical energy. The electrons that leave the reaction center are replaced by other electrons, which are torn from water molecules, leaving oxygen molecules and protons. The chemical energy created in the "light phase" is transferred to the second phase - the "dark phase" - where another cycle of processes leads to the creation of the final product - sugars.
"The process of photosynthesis is indeed very effective for the photosynthetic organisms that carry it out, but the storage of the converted energy is done in a way that is not accessible to humans," says Dr. Noy. "If that's not enough, the processes of natural selection that shaped the photosynthetic creatures act as a 'one-way ticket.' As a result, the creatures may develop skills, lose other skills, or even develop duplicates - several skills used to achieve the same goal." In order to overcome these difficulties, Dr. Noy focuses on the "light phase" of photosynthesis, and tries to sort out the straw from the chaff and identify the minimum and essential requirements for it to occur. This, in order to create model proteins that store the products of photosynthesis at a stage when they are still accessible to humans.
Photosynthetic arrays have been well studied in the past, so scientists know how they are organized. The distance between the pigments is measured to an atomic level of precision, and the dynamics of the electron transfer processes are known down to tiny fractions of a second - less than a millionth of a millionth of a second. However, in reality, such tiny structures are difficult to manipulate. Another problem is that the three-dimensional organization of the pigments is critical to the photosynthetic processes. The skeleton of the system is made of proteins, which maintain a correct spatial organization of all the components. The structure of the protein skeleton is determined by the sequence of the amino acids that make it up. Therefore, in order to design a successful skeleton for a photosynthetic system, the appropriate amino acid sequence must be chosen for each protein. Since there are millions of possible combinations, this is a huge challenge.
First findings begin to be collected in Dr. Noy's laboratory. His group uses genetic engineering technologies to "program" E. coli bacteria to produce proteins designed by them. The amino acid sequence of these proteins was specially designed so that they could collect pigments and additional components, and create small and simple analogues of the natural photosynthesis proteins. Repeated testing of the proteins they created, and their redesign, allows researchers to begin to understand how the sequence of amino acids translates into the desired three-dimensional structure.
So far, the researchers have succeeded in creating a prototype containing several light-receiving pigments, which are able to cause reactions. In the future they plan to improve the efficiency of the structure by adding many more pigments. Another researched direction is the identification of "nodes" in the photosynthesis process that can be influenced in order to divert the light energy so that it is possible to use it to produce the hydrogen molecules, even before the energy is used for other reactions. The hydrogen obtained in this way can be used as a source of clean, efficient and environmentally friendly alternative fuel.
Dr. Noy: "I hope that these studies will open the way to designing facilities for converting light energy, such as, for example, solar cells made of protein, which make use of biological components - within a non-biological system. The insights we will gain from this research will also advance our understanding of the way in which plants absorb and store light energy. These insights will allow us to use specially adapted proteins that will be introduced into plants using genetic engineering methods, will increase the production of vegetable fuels - such as biodiesel or ethanol - and will also allow the production of inorganic fuels - such as hydrogen - using plants."
18 תגובות
God copied from Darwin the method to create the world, and Darwin himself
You can be calm = everything is in its place:
The same lady in the pest control change
I've been in all the possible boxes and out of them too
Today I am in a new box
Each of us is in a different place and looking in a different direction.
This is how life is created.
Collision of differently charged particles.
The day we all think the same thing we will actually be "God"
One collective consciousness.
Did you not understand?
To Mr. "You can be calm"
You're rambling but your friends - Nachi, Hamsefek and their predecessors have already tired me out. The fact that you keep changing to repeat the same nonsense shouldn't make me say the same things over and over again.
You did not understand?
Zbashach
The question is whether the developed monkey is already out of the cage, and maybe you are actually in a box that your God does not allow you to get out of and look outside
To Nachi, Michael, Yehuda and the rest of the Leitz guys..
"God" is an abstract concept that refers to the ways of nature.
There is nothing to argue about his existence just as there is no arguing about our existence.
What is Lolham's name and what do they want from us is a question that gives a different answer to each person.
Are there coincidences in life or higher intelligence than us?
It is clear as day that we humans did not create life and the world and therefore there must be "something" above us.
Every man shall live by his faith,
Some will believe that they are a type of developed monkey that only in the case of one in a trillion do they exist at all and there is no significance to their specific existence.
In contrast, some will believe that they are a derivative of the same "God" and that their lives are full of meaning and creativity.
In any case, the evolved monkey cannot see beyond his cage unless he is brave and tries to open the door only to find it was open all along.
Good night
If anyone has asked themselves if two lies can contradict each other then here is a wonderful example.
Nachi the liar A and Nachi the liar B contradict each other.
Nachi the liar A:
"According to the Darwinist theory [which for some reason appears here in many articles without taking into account that the world of science abandoned it a long time ago],...."
And more:
"But what some have not heard, is the scientific community's rejection of this far-fetched theory"
The liar rests in:
"I have no interest in claiming or proving that scientists do not believe in the theory of evolution"
to rest
If you say that God created the world, then who created God?, Michael's parents?
Rest, rest, God couldn't even save six million Jews in the Holocaust, so you're telling us that he created the world? Go away, be realistic!
Good night
Sabdarmish Yehuda
To Roy!
Since the only response worthy of a factual approach was yours, therefore I will answer you.
I have no interest in claiming or proving that scientists do not believe in the theory of evolution. This decision is in the hands of each one for himself.
And as a matter of fact, even if there are indeed laws of nature that show a course of development, the main question has not yet been answered: Who created the 'soup' from which everything developed?
After all, science does not claim that the universe has always been as the ancient Greeks thought. There is clear evidence that the world was created at some point in time, and before that it did not exist!
Since this is how we must discuss how the 'is' was created from the 'nothing'. And Darwin did not try to answer this question at all. He dealt with the stage after the reality of the 'Is', what was the first 'Is' and how the universe came to its current state from what it was then.
In light of this, since we see before us a most wonderful system of natural laws, it is impossible to claim that these laws were created by themselves, because even less sophisticated things require man to invest in their creation, and how is it possible that the hand of chance will produce such great wisdom.
But what do you call the creator of this wisdom 'nature', so be it, it doesn't bother anyone. It's just worth noting that this is a particularly ingenious work that was not created for free, there is a reason for this work. And this is where Judaism comes in. All of you, whether you like it or not, are descendants of people who gave their lives for this faith.
Yehuda:
I did not forget.
Do you want the next clue or will you think about it for another night?
Actually, it's already late, so even if you ask for another hint - I may not be able to respond until tomorrow, but you can try.
Anyway - my next reference to the subject will be to ask for another hint or to propose a solution.
In any case - let's continue the correspondence on the subject in the article where it started so as not to increase the mess.
to rest
But I actually heard that you have many rabbis who believe in the path of evolution!
Leschel, Rebbe Milobevitz!!, he actually believed in evolution, and therefore, removed from his path the true successor of Lubevitz in a sublime evolutionary move, and in addition, his evolutionary development continued and he became from Rabbi Spians to Messian Spians.
If that's not evolution, then I'm a jerk.
Dear Michael - Did we forget about the algorithm?
Good night
Sabdarmish Yehuda
Nahi, you must have made a mistake on the site. The things you write include lies that are spread on other sites, which are hostile to science. For those who claim that Einstein repented, there is no problem in claiming that science rejected evolution.
rest,
I am part of the scientific community, and can tell you that there is no disagreement among biologists regarding the truth of the theory of evolution. Almost all scientists who oppose the theory come from other fields (and then their reference level to talk about biology and evolution is the same as a plumber's reference level to talk about high mathematics).
All the research in biology conducted today relies on discoveries from the theory of evolution, whether it is homologous DNA between different organisms, work with bacteria that develop resistance to antibiotics or molecular biology that relies on insights about similar proteins.
The bacteria and algae do not 'labor in laboratories' on the development of enzymatic systems, but rather they come from random mutations determined by natural selection. In these processes, even today, bacteria create an enzyme, for example, capable of breaking down plastic - even though its level of complexity is very high. All by way of evolution and natural selection.
I recommend you read about evolution and try to understand it in depth, before making such baseless claims.
And the fountain of lies continues to flow strongly
We have heard and heard, but what some have not heard, is the scientific community's rejection of this far-fetched theory.
There are many scientists who wrote books to disprove this theory even though it was very accepted for a long time.
Personally, I heard from a respected professor [a member of the Meretz movement] who is involved in the study of the human genome who declared in my ear that those who believe in evolution have nothing to look for among researchers. It is clear as day, he says, that this whole theory is fundamentally disproved and that there must be a creator for the world, etc.
Nahi:
And see it's a miracle.
It turns out that there are those who have not even heard of evolution.
And the Ministry of Education is releasing more and more schools from the obligation to teach the core curriculum.
Quote: These are organisms that carry out photosynthesis, such as plants, algae and various types of bacteria. These creatures cultivated and perfected their abilities over millions of years of evolution, and thus managed to optimally design a mechanism for absorbing light. This elaborate mechanism allows the photosynthetic organisms (which carry out photosynthesis) to use sunlight and simple substances - water and carbon dioxide - for the purpose of creating sugars and other high-energy substances, which fuel their biological activity.
After the author's request for forgiveness, it seems to me that it is a little ridiculous to attribute such great wisdom to a simple algae, or to other tiny creatures, the cream of their intellect, if it exists at all, does not exceed that of a baby. And here the son asks, did these creatures really 'invent' the patent on how to exist? Furthermore, how did they exist in all those 'millions' of years until the miraculous development? In which laboratories did the algae conduct the experiments? What technological tools were at their disposal?
It is simply primitive to think that a bacterium is capable of independently developing something. It is less intellectual than believing in various idols in which the inhabitants of Central Africa and their ilk still believe.
There is probably some kind of very [very very] intelligent 'super-being' whose essence is difficult for us to comprehend, but our existence necessitates its reality. You can call it God or any other name, but its existence is forced by reality.
For your reference!
It is written in the article that the absorption of light in the plant cells moves electrons. Can't this movement be used as an electric current? Why is it necessary to convert it to hydrogen? After all, every transformation of energy is not carried out with 100% efficiency and hence some of the energy is "wasted".