Information Technology

Researchers have successfully engineered  E. coli  to generate renewable, engine-ready propane, which is a major sustainable fossil fuel replacement candidate. Propane has huge potential as a replacement for our rapidly dwindling fossil fuels because we already have a market for it - it's one of the main components in LPG (liquid petroleum gas), which we use in vehicles and heating. But right now it’s only produced as a byproduct of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, both of which are very unsustainable practices. Now researchers from the Imperial College London in the UK and the University of Turku in Finland have proved that propane can be produced sustainably, by showing that the harmless gut bacteria  Escherichia coli  ( E. coli ) can be engineered to make renewable propane. To turn the bacteria into propane-producing machines, the scientists interrupted the biological process that turns fatty acids into cell membranes. The researchers used three...