Scientists Engineer Caffeine Addiction In Bacteria, May Be Helpful In Decontamination Efforts

[microrobert]

Scientists Engineer Caffeine Addiction In Bacteria, May Be Helpful In Decontamination Efforts

Millions of people can't get started in the morning without a cup of coffee, and many of them may even claim to be addicted to the morning jolt of caffeine in the drink. Addiction is usually not associated with anything promising, but a new report in the journal ACS Synthetic Biology describes how scientists have engineered caffeine "addiction" the E.coli bacteria, a scientific first which may lead to breakthrough practical uses including wastewater decontamination and bioproduction of medications.

Scientists already knew a natural soil bacteria called Pseudomonas putida CBB5 can live only by metabolizing caffeine and can be used to clean up environmental contamination. So Jeffrey E. Barrick and colleagues thought to try and engineer the trait into the E. coli bacteria, which is easy to handle and grow.

http://www.natureworldnews.com/artic...on-efforts.htm

[mr. logan]

Good. Mutated natural decontamination always better than chemical products to do it. Though bringing world population down would not make us mutate bacteria for cleaning.