Gene manipulation could aid biofuel development

Tampa Bay Online
The Tampa Tribune
Published: July 2, 2010

Moving a three-gene cluster from one tiny bacterium to another may make a big contribution to the quest to make commercially viable biofuels.

Working at the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint BioEnergy Institute, researchers have found that the trio of genes may play a role in turning sugar molecules from plants into green biofuels.

Harry Beller, an environmental microbiologist who directs the Emeryville, Calif.-based institute's Biofuels Pathways Department, and his colleagues implanted the three-gene cluster from the bacterium Micrococcus luteus was into the well-known intestinal bacterium Escherichia coli.

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