Microbes to convert biomass to biofuel

Researchers at the University of Georgia in the US have engineered the thermophilic bacterium Caldicellulosiruptor bescii to directly convert biomass to biofuel.

Janet Westpheling, University of Georgia professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of genetics, led the research team, which engineered the organism C bescii to deconstruct un-pretreated plant biomass.

'Now, without any pretreatment, we can simply take switchgrass, grind it up, add a low-cost, minimal salts medium and get ethanol out the other end. This is the first step toward an industrial process that is economically feasible,' Westpheling says.

The research team firstly developed a synthetic pathway into the organism by introducing genes from other anaerobic bacterium that produce ethanol, before developing a pathway in the organism to produce ethanol directly.