Thu, 25 Sep 2025

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 The bacteria turning waste plastic into painkillers

How did E. coli become such an essential tool for scientists and will anything replace it?

* A bacterium called Escherichia coli (E. coli) was genetically engineered by Stephen Wallace to produce paracetamol from a plastic-derived molecule.
* E. coli is commonly found in human and animal intestines and is often seen as an unpleasant bug that can make people ill.
* The bacterium has become a mainstay of biotechnology due to its role as a model organism for understanding general biological principles.
* E. coli was first isolated in 1885 by German paediatrician Theodor Escherich and was used to study basic bacterial biology.
* In the 1940s, a non-pathogenic strain of E. coli was used to demonstrate that bacteria can undergo "bacterial sex" and share genes to gain new traits.
* E. coli has played a central role in many discoveries and milestones in genetics and molecular biology, including deciphering the genetic code and producing synthetic human insulin.
* The bacterium's dominance in biotechnology may be stifling progress in finding better solutions for problems, according to some experts who suggest that other microbes could be more suitable for certain applications.
* Researchers are exploring alternatives to E. coli, such as Vibrio natriegens (V. nat), which has a faster growth rate and greater efficiency at taking in foreign DNA than E. coli.
* V. nat is being developed for industrial applications, including the production of jet fuel from carbon dioxide and green electricity.
* However, experts note that E. coli remains a robust and versatile organism with many useful features, and replacing it will be challenging due to its well-developed genetic tools and widespread use in biotechnology.
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