Electricity is paramount to the technical world and plays an increasingly important role as a future energy carrier. Yet, it is not widely used to directly power biological systems. Here, we designed a new-to-nature electrobiological module, the acid/aldehyde ATP cycle (AAA cycle), for the direct conversion of electrical energy into ATP. The AAA cycle contains a minimum set of enzymes and does not require membrane-based charge separation. Realizing a propionate-based version of the AAA cycle, we demonstrate continuous, electricity-driven regeneration of ATP and other energy storage molecules from −0.6 V vs. SHE at 2.7 μmol cm⁻² h⁻¹ and faradaic efficiencies of up to 47%. Notably, the AAA cycle is compatible with complex cell-free systems, such as in vitro transcription/translation, powering the processing of biological information directly from electricity. This new link between the technical and biological worlds opens several possibilities for future applications in synthetic biology, electrobiotechnology, and bioelectrocatalysis.

电力对于技术世界至关重要，并且作为未来的能源载体发挥着越来越重要的作用。然而，它并未广泛用于直接为生物系统提供动力。在这里，我们设计了一种全新的电生物模块，即酸/醛 ATP 循环（AAA 循环），用于将电能直接转化为 ATP。AAA 循环包含最少量的酶，不需要基于膜的电荷分离。实现基于丙酸盐的 AAA 循环，我们证明了 ATP 和其他储能分子在 2.7 μmol cm -2 h -1 条件下，在 −0.6 V vs. SHE 条件下连续、电力驱动再生，法拉第^效率高达⁴⁷ % 。值得注意的是，AAA 循环与复杂的无细胞系统兼容，例如体外转录/翻译，直接用电力为生物信息的处理提供动力。技术和生物世界之间的这种新联系为合成生物学、电生物技术和生物电催化的未来应用开辟了多种可能性。