Found a way to produce almost any chemicals using bacteria

A note about the breakthrough of a team of geneticists appeared on the Harvard website, which, under the leadership of George Church from the Institute of Applied Genetics. Wissa learned how to genetically program bacteria to produce a given chemical. It is hoped that in the near future chemical factories will be replaced by colonies of genetically modified bacteria. Scientists have succeeded in changing the single-cell genes in such a way that they produce a given chemical compound as part of their metabolism.

One of the leading project scientists, Jameson Rogers, says: “We plant bacteria on the chemical compound that we need to produce. Then we process the colony with antibiotics, after which only the highest-performing cells survive, which are involved in the creation of the next generation of bacteria. ” Church adds: “The cells that best cope with production are automatically selected by means of evolutionary processes. A person no longer needs to scrupulously monitor the selection, the bacteria themselves are engaged in this. Until now, the production of such organisms in synthetic biology was only one-time. ”

The study demonstrated a method by which almost any bacterium can be made to produce almost any chemical (E. coli was used in the experiment). The technology makes it possible to produce bacteria that are 1000 times more efficient than anything that was previously obtained. The method changes the DNA of microorganisms in such a way that the genes responsible for resistance to the antibiotic are included only in the presence of the desired chemical. The same chemical becomes essential for the survival of bacteria. At the same time, bacteria that produce an insufficient amount of a chemical become extremely sensitive to antibiotics. As a result, with each generation the productivity of bacteria increases.
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The institute’s director, Donald Ingber, says: “This breakthrough will affect pharmaceuticals, biofuel industries, and the renewable production of chemicals. Such a serious increase in efficiency, we not only improve current production, but also give a chance to create cost-effective production of many new compounds. "