'Caffeine addiction'

US researchers say they have created caffeine-addicting bacteria, which can be used in areas such as water source decontamination or pharmaceutical production.

E.coli can only survive with caffeine - (Photo: Fotolia)

Caffeine and related compounds can become serious sources of water pollution, due to huge demand. Therefore, creating live bacteria with caffeine may be the optimal solution in an effort to clean up the environment.

Expert Jeffrey E. Barrick of the University of Texas (USA) and colleagues decided to design genetics to create such a bacterium.

Scientists know a kind of natural bacteria in the soil, called Pseudomonas putida CBB5 , that can survive in a full caffeine environment, so Barrick's team decided to transfer their caffeine metabolism. into E.coli bacteria.

As a result, the new E.coli strain is addicted to caffeine, according to a report on ACS Synthetic Biology.