Turning E. Coli into Road-Ready Diesel

CBS News
Jan. 29, 2010

New Study Suggests the Bacteria Could Potentially Wind Up Turning the Wheels of your Car
(AP) (CBS) This article was written by Discover's Smriti Rao.

Most of us associate the bacteria E. coli with nasty stomach ailments. But a new study published in Nature magazine suggests E. coli can not just turn stomachs, but could potentially turn the wheels of your car, since a genetically engineered strain of the bacteria has produced clean, road-ready biodiesel.

The bacteria can work on any type of biomass, including wood chip, switchgrass, and the plant parts that are left behind after a harvest-all contain cellulose, a structural material that comprises much of a plant’s mass. Study coauthor Jay Keasling and his colleagues report engineering E. coli bacteria to synthesize and excrete the enzyme hemicellulase, which breaks down cellulose into sugars.

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