Man-made bacteria that eats CO2 and turns it into eco-friendly biofuels

Discovery could help tackle climate change, scientists claim

Bacteria that feed off carbon dioxide instead of sugar could be used to produce biofuels in the future. Escherichia coli bacteria have been engineered by scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel to convert CO2 to energy for themselves while generating biomass that can be used as biofuel. Several strands of Escherichia coli bacteria are already used to create biofuels however they normally feed off sugar - which is not a freely abundant substance.

By adding genes for an enzyme that converts CO2 to the E. coli genome and removing others, used for metabolising sugar, the team was able to change the source the bacteria use to survive. To prove they had truly lost the need for sugar to survive scientists left the bacteria in a lab for 200 days.

On returning to the bacteria they found that the microbes had successfully evolved - and had grown without needing sugar.

Ron Milo who led the study told The New Scientist that the team didn't expect to be able to make such 'dramatic changes' to the bacteria's genome. Some work will still be needed to reduce the bacteria's CO2 emissions - the bacteria release more CO2 in the growing process than they consume. Modified E. coli could be used to generate other chemicals in future - they could even use the CO2 produced as a byproduct of the steel or concrete industry to produce insulin for diabetics. Frank Sargent at Newcastle University, told the New Scientist the technology has 'endless possibilities'. He said: 'This type of directed evolution is already a Nobel prize-winning type of science and this is a terrific example of why.'

E.coli could even be manipulated to produce a substance found in magic mushrooms that wards off depression, research suggests.

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