EurekAlert  January 6, 2020 Plants and microorganisms naturally biosynthesize chemicals that often are converted into derivatives with reduced toxicity or enhanced solubility. As a proof of principle, researchers in the UK used genetic engineering to program E. coli and cyanobacteria to make 1-octanol, a chemical currently used in perfumes, which is toxic to the bacteria. They then added an extra set of instructions to E. coli so it would produce two different derivatives of 1-octanol that are both less harmful. The researchers say if this were to be scaled up for industrial systems the engineered bacteria would produce the non-toxic […]