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NUS Colour-Sensing Yeast Research 2026
NUS researchers engineered baker's yeast to respond independently to red and blue light, enabling programmable control of gene expression and biomanufacturing pathways.
NUS Colour-Sensing Yeast Research 2026
Light-controlled yeast platform
Researchers at the National University of Singapore engineered baker's yeast to sense and respond independently to red and blue light. The work used optogenetics—rewiring cells so selected genes switch on or off in response to light—and was published in Nature Communications on 22 May 2026. NUS reported the research on 11 August 2026. (NUS, 11 August 2026, accessed 5 September 2026.)
y-iLight and dual-channel control
The team adapted a light-sensitive tool into a single red-light-responsive protein for yeast, named y-iLight, and engineered variants that reduced unwanted activation by blue light. Combined with the established blue-light-responsive EL222 system, the resulting strain provided two independently controlled gene-expression channels. NUS described this as the first single yeast strain engineered to respond to more than one colour of light; that is a research result, not a claim of an industrially deployed production strain. (NUS, 11 August 2026, accessed 5 September 2026.)
Demonstrated applications and boundaries
The researchers used red and blue light to control enzymes involved in producing luteolin, to trigger yeast-cell clumping through the FLO1 gene, and to create spatial patterns of coloured compounds on agar. These demonstrations point to possible applications in pathway optimisation, biomanufacturing and living materials, but the NUS release does not establish a finished commercial product, production scale or clinical use. (NUS, 11 August 2026, accessed 5 September 2026.)
Record details
- Also known as
- ["colour-sensing yeast","y-iLight yeast","NUS optogenetic yeast"]
- Jurisdiction
- SG
Dates describe this record’s own period and applicability. A verification date does not mean a rule is currently in force.
Sources
- NUS researchers achieve breakthrough in engineering colour-sensing yeast Accessed 2026-09-05
Collection as of 2026-10-07 · An expanding collection. Published counts show available knowledge, not complete coverage of Singapore.