Decades-Old Conclusion about Energy-Making Pathway of Cyanobacteria is Corrected (1 of 2) (IMAGE)
Caption
Research expected to help scientists to discover new ways of genetically engineering bacteria to manufacture biofuels overturns a generally accepted 44-year-old assumption about how certain kinds of bacteria make energy and synthesize cell materials. Researchers in the 1960s had concluded that cyanobacteria had an incomplete tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. The TCA cycle includes a series of chemical reactions that are used for metabolism by most forms of life, including bacteria, molds, protozoa, and animals. With this new understaning of how cyanobacteria make energy, it might be possible to genetically engineer a cyanobacterial strain to synthesize 1,3-butanediol -- an organic compound that is the precursor for making not only biofuels but also plastics.
Credit
Bryant lab, Penn State Unviersity
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