*Image taken from the public domain.
A new type of bacteria that can only survive with caffeine
If you think you have seen it all, this blog entry will blow your mind. Researchers from the University of Austin, Texas, engineered a strain of Escherichia coli that can only survive with caffeine. Yes, caffeine, the holy grail of graduate students. But, why in the world would someone want to engineer a microorganism that would be capable of metabolizing caffeine? It turns out that, with the continuous growth of pharmaceuticals and other industries all around the world, there is an increase of caffeine as a pollutant in the water and land around cities. So, it was necessary to develop a strategy that would help diminish the quantity of caffeine from the environment.
As weird as it seems, nature had a way of solving this pollution crisis. The recently discovered bacteria, Pseudomonas putida CBB5, was found to be able to metabolize caffeine in the environment. By analyzing the metabolic network of P. putida CBB5, researchers discovered which enzymes were necessary for digesting caffeine. So, they used this information to engineered E. coli in a way that it can produce the enzymes that are necessary for metabolizing caffeine.
There you have it. In the future, we could be able to use these bacteria to produce decaffeinated beverages, in addition of cleaning the environment. Could these new discoveries benefit the Caffeine Beverage Industry? Who knows...
*References:
(1) http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-03/bacteria-caffeine-addict-its-possible
If you think you have seen it all, this blog entry will blow your mind. Researchers from the University of Austin, Texas, engineered a strain of Escherichia coli that can only survive with caffeine. Yes, caffeine, the holy grail of graduate students. But, why in the world would someone want to engineer a microorganism that would be capable of metabolizing caffeine? It turns out that, with the continuous growth of pharmaceuticals and other industries all around the world, there is an increase of caffeine as a pollutant in the water and land around cities. So, it was necessary to develop a strategy that would help diminish the quantity of caffeine from the environment.
As weird as it seems, nature had a way of solving this pollution crisis. The recently discovered bacteria, Pseudomonas putida CBB5, was found to be able to metabolize caffeine in the environment. By analyzing the metabolic network of P. putida CBB5, researchers discovered which enzymes were necessary for digesting caffeine. So, they used this information to engineered E. coli in a way that it can produce the enzymes that are necessary for metabolizing caffeine.
There you have it. In the future, we could be able to use these bacteria to produce decaffeinated beverages, in addition of cleaning the environment. Could these new discoveries benefit the Caffeine Beverage Industry? Who knows...
*References:
(1) http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-03/bacteria-caffeine-addict-its-possible
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