Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Physorg.com: E. coli metabolism reversed for speedy production of fuels, chemicals

Rice University engineering researchers Ramon Gonzalez (left) and Clementina Dellomonaco reversed one of the most efficient of all metabolic pathways -- the beta oxidation cycle -- to engineer bacteria that make biofuels at a breakneck pace.

  • Gonzalez's laboratory is in a race with hundreds of labs around the world to find green methods for producing chemicals like butanol
  • "We call these 'drop-in' fuels and chemicals, because their structure and properties are very similar, sometimes identical, to petroleum-based products," he said.
  • In the Nature study, Gonzalez's team reversed the beta oxidation cycle by selectively manipulating about a dozen genes in the bacteria Escherichia coli.
 I saw this story referenced by Rand Simberg's blog.   I don't like to be negative, but has anybody considered what might happen if this gets into the environment?  I mean, this stuff gets inside living organisms, it could be all she wrote.  Bad stuff.

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