... the team has genetically engineered E. coli bacteria to produce molecules that are interchangeable to the ones in diesel fuels already sold commercially.
The products of this bacteria, if generated on a large-scale, could theoretically go directly into the millions of car and truck engines currently running on diesel worldwide—without the need to be blended with petroleum-based diesel.
The group, led by John Love, accomplished the feat by mixing and matching genes from several different bacteria species and inserting them into the E. coli used in the experiment. These genes each code for particular enzymes, so when the genes are inserted into the E. coli, the bacteria gains the ability to synthesize these enzymes.
As a result, it also gains the ability to perform the same metabolic reactions that those enzymes perform in each of the donor bacteria species.
By carefully selecting and combining metabolic reactions, the researchers built an artificial chemical pathway piece-by-piece. Through this pathway, the genetically modified E. coli growing and reproducing in a petri dish filled with a high-fat broth were able to absorb fat molecules, convert them into hydrocarbons and excrete them as a waste product.
Hydrocarbons are the basis for all petroleum-based fuels, and the particular molecules they engineered the E. coli to produce are the same ones present in commercial diesel fuels.Thing is, they excrete Diesel.
If scientists learn how to do this on a mass scale to where we can eliminate what are not called "fossil fuels", it will not stop the Chicken Littles of the Gaia Movement from shrieking that the end is nigh.
I guarantee you they would turn their hatred, like Sauron's eye, away from "fossil fuels" and onto the problem of E Coli farts, which they would proclaim will destroy all life on Earth if all humans don't stop enjoying life right this very minute.
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