Turn E.coli bacteria into biofuel

For the first time researchers at the UCLA School of Engineering and Applied Science Henry Samueli succeeded in pushing nature through its limits by transforming Escherichia coli, a bacterium commonly associated with poisoning. food, genetically, to create the long-chain alcohol needed for creating biofuels.

James Liao, UCLA professor of molecular biology and chemistry, said: 'Previously, we were able to synthesize long-chain alcohols containing five carbon atoms. We stop at 5 carbon atoms, because that's what can be achieved naturally. Alcohol has never been synthesized with more than 5 carbon atoms before. We have now found a way to build proteins in a whole new way in E.coli to create longer chain alcohols with 8 carbon atoms'.

New proteins and metabolic methods developed by Liao and his team are published on the December 30 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Long chain spirits, with 5 or more carbon atoms, contain more energy at a smaller space and can be easily separated from water, making them less volatile and corrosive than biofuels. Current ethanol.The higher the number of carbon atoms, the higher the concentration of biofuels. Ethanol, usually made from corn or sugarcane, contains only 2 carbon atoms.

Organisms often produce large amounts of amino acids, which are the basic components of proteins. In their study, Liao and his colleagues investigated the metabolism of amino acids in E.coli and changed the metabolism of this bacterium by adding two specially encoded genes. One gene, from bacteria to make cheese, and another, from tamarind type is often used for incubation.These two genes were modified to allow the precursor to amino acids in E.coli, keto acid, to continue the chain lengthening process and finally to create longer chain alcohols.

E.coli bacteria. (Photo: lakehuron.ca)

Liao, the lead author of the study, said: 'This research is significant for two reasons. From a scientific point of view, we want to show that we can expand nature's ability to form alcohol molecules. We have shown that we are not limited by what nature creates. From an energy perspective, we want to create larger molecules and longer chains that can contain more energy. This is very meaningful in making gasoline and even jet fuel '.

The field of biofuel production from organisms has the potential to solve the problems of global warming, the scientific significance of successful genetic modification can bring benefits out of the environment.

UCLA researcher Kechun Zhang said: 'We used E.coloi because its genome was known, the bacteria grew fast and we could create it. easily. But technology can be used in many other organisms, opening up new possibilities in the field of polymer and drug manufacturing '.

The study was funded by the UCLA Department of Energy and Genetic Research Institute.