Bacteria Tweaked to Make Fuel From Sunlight

Bacteria Tweaked to Make Fuel From Sunlight

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As part of the bid to find viable alternatives to fossil fuels, chemists have artificially engineered bacteria capable of growing some of the raw materials necessary for fuel and plastic production using sunlight. The cyanobacteria are naturally capable of photosynthesis, meaning they have an inherent ability to fix carbon from carbon dioxide into useful hydrocarbons. By adding new chemical pathways the chemists at the University of California, Davis hope to increase the amount of raw chemicals the bacteria can generate.