Decades-Old Conclusion about Energy-Making Pathway of Cyanobacteria is Corrected (2 of 2) (IMAGE)

Penn State

Decades-Old Conclusion about Energy-Making Pathway of Cyanobacteria is Corrected (2 of 2)

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. Donald Bryant, at Penn State University, performed biochemical and genetic analyses on a cyanobacterium called Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002, scouring its genome for genes that might be responsible for making alternative energy-cycle enzymes.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.

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Bryant lab, Penn State University

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