Phys.org November 22, 2021
A team of researchers in the US (UC Berkeley, University of Minnesota) has harnessed biology and chemistry to turn glucose into olefins. They genetically engineered E. coli to produce a suite of four enzymes that convert glucose into compounds called 3-hydroxy fatty acids. As the bacteria consumed the glucose, they also started to make the fatty acids. To complete the transformation, they used niobium pentoxide (Nb2O5) a catalyst to chop off unwanted parts of the fatty acids in a chemical process, generating the final product: the olefins. According to the team more research is needed to understand the benefits of the new method and whether it can be scaled up efficiently for making biofuels or for other purposes… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Identification of a new biosynthetic PaaJ-like thiolase family. Credit: Nature Chemistry (2021)Â