Biologists made hamster cells harness solar energy, similar to how plants do.

The ability to perform photosynthesis has until now been an exclusive privilege of plants and algae. However, researchers from Japan have successfully created photosynthetic animal cells, as reported by Gizmodo.

The core of the experiment involved chloroplasts – the cell components responsible for photosynthesis. These were extracted from red algae and introduced into hamster cells. As a result of the experiment, according to its authors, the animal cells gained the ability to photosynthesize light.

"To the best of our knowledge, this is the first recorded instance of photosynthetic electron transfer in chloroplasts implanted in animal cells. We expected that the chloroplasts would be digested by the animal cells within a few hours after introduction. But we observed that the chloroplasts continued to function for two days, and electron transfer occurred across the photosynthetic electron transport chain," said co-author of the study Sachihiro Matsunaga from the University of Tokyo.

Photosynthetic electron transfer is one of the stages of photosynthesis, during which energy is produced by plants or algae.

The researchers confirmed this process by analyzing the chloroplast in the hamster cells using several visualization methods.

"We hypothesize that chloroplasts in animal cells can remain stable and continuously produce energy regardless of environmental conditions," the authors of the experiment stated.

While the idea that animals could live on solar energy is appealing, this was not the goal of the experiment. The practical application of such a discovery is much more significant. The scientists propose to use the "planimals" they developed in artificial tissue engineering.

The reason is that lab-grown tissues often struggle to grow due to a lack of oxygen, which can be addressed by introducing photosynthetic animal cells.

"Lab-created tissues, such as artificial organs, muscles, and skin layers, consist of several cell layers. They cannot expand in size due to hypoxia within the tissue, which hinders cell division. However, by adding 'planimals,' oxygen can be supplied to the cells through photosynthesis, providing the tissue with everything it needs for growth," Matsunaga explains.

Furthermore, the hamster cells with chloroplasts exhibited a higher growth rate, indicating that the chloroplast transferred a carbon source to the animal cells in addition to oxygen.

Let us remind you that scientists have finally determined how exactly photosynthesis begins. Researchers have observed for the first time how a single photon triggers the photosynthesis process in bacteria and discovered how this vital process starts.