A microrotary motor powered by bacteria

Biological molecular motors have a number of unique advantages over artificial motors, including efficient conversion of chemical energy into mechanical work and the potential for self-assembly into larger structures, as is seen in muscle sarcomeres and bacterial and eukaryotic flagella. The development of an appropriate interface between such biological materials and synthetic devices should enable us to realize useful hybrid micromachines. Here we describe a microrotary motor composed of a 20-mu m-diameter silicon dioxide rotor driven on a silicon track by the gliding bacterium Mycoplasma mobile. This motor is fueled by glucose and inherits some of the properties normally attributed to living systems.