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Echeria Coli Co-Opted To Make Gasoline
Flask_Man writes "Technology Review has an article about a small biotech company in the Silicon Valley that has successfully produced renewable gasoline from genetically modified bacteria, including the nefarious E.Coli bacteria. A pilot plant is slated to be constructed in California in 2008, and it is claimed that hundreds of different hydrocarbon molecules are capable of being produced. The modified bacteria make and excrete hydrocarbon molecules that are the length and molecular structure the company desires. From the article: 'To do this, the company is employing tools from the field of synthetic biology to modify the genetic pathways that bacteria, plants, and animals use to make fatty acids, one of the main ways that organisms store energy. Fatty acids are chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms strung together in a particular arrangement, with a carboxylic acid group made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen attached at one end. Take away the acid, and you're left with a hydrocarbon that can be made into fuel.'" We discussed something similar to this earlier this year.
I thought it was Escherichia coli.
Sorry for being a grammar nazi guys, but it's spelt "Escherichia coli". It's one of the most common bacteria.
it's spelled: Escheria coli
I thought it was Escherichia coli.
-b
myselfmusic
...including the nefarious E.Coli bacteria.
Nefarious implies intent. It means evil. E. coli (you capitalize phylum, class, order, family and genus, but not species) is not sentient, therefore not evil. Furthermore, you're confusing it with a specific variant of E. coli which is pathogenic. Most variants are not pathogenic and in fact, it is the most common of the intestinal bacterial fauna in humans...
Call me a troll, but it's a geek site. Geeks should know geek stuff and proper capitalization of genus and species is definitely a geek subject as is the nature of E. coli).