Turning Bacteria into Plastic Factories

jerry submitted, created time 2 months 1 week (www.sciam.com)

Plastics are one of the most versatile and useful things that can be made from expensive fossil fuels. ...except as of now, it's "that can be made from expensive fossil fuels and genetically engineered E. coli." A new company has found a way to produce polymers from genetically engineered microbes that feed on sugars, replacing fossil-fuel based processes.

The plastic in question is called butanediol, and the process has been in the works for some time. The trick was getting the bacteria to tolderate high levels of butanediol in the water. It's usually toxic.

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