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Engineered Stomach Microbe Converts Seaweed Into Ethanol

Posted by samzenpus on from the sick-power dept.

PolygamousRanchKid writes "Seaweed may well be an ideal plant to turn into biofuel. It grows in much of the two thirds of the planet that is underwater, so it wouldn't crowd out food crops the way corn for ethanol does. Because it draws its own nutrients and water from the sea, it requires no fertilizer or irrigation. Most importantly for would-be biofuel-makers, it contains no lignin—a strong strand of complex sugars that stiffens plant stalks and poses a big obstacle to turning land-based plants such as switchgrass into biofuel. Researchers at Bio Architecture Lab, Inc., (BAL) and the University of Washington in Seattle have now taken the first step to exploit the natural advantages of seaweed. They have built a microbe capable of digesting it and converting it into ethanol or other chemicals. Synthetic biologist Yasuo Yoshikuni, a co-founder of BAL, and his colleagues took Escherichia coli, a gut bacterium most famous as a food contaminant, and made some genetic modifications that give it the ability to turn the sugars in an edible kelp called kombu into fuel."

6 of 226 comments (clear)

  1. Seaweed is boring by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    I hope someone finds a way to convert weed into ethanol, and weed will be grown everywhere.
    That would be like a dream come true.

  2. What could go wrong? by haydensdaddy · · Score: 5, Funny

    So... how long until this microbe gets into the wild and we end up with an ocean of ethanol...?

    1. Re:What could go wrong? by FrozenFood · · Score: 5, Funny

      as soon as possible, hopefully.

    2. Re:What could go wrong? by Ralph+Spoilsport · · Score: 5, Funny

      as soon as possible? Are you nuts? Or just stupid? Seaweed is a vital part of the ocean's ecosystem. Such a creature would be a blight upon the seaweed, dooming thousands of species to oblivion. Your opinion is NOT insightful. It is ignorant and destructive, and fundamentally evil.

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  3. Re:Oh good. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Perfect. No Officer, I have not been drinking. I had sushi for lunch. You see I work at this new biofuel company . . .

  4. Re:Is it the sweet crude oil? by synaptik · · Score: 4, Funny

    when the previous sun went nova.

    Your ideas are intriguing to me, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

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