One They exhibited chill (E. coli) genetically modified is capable of transforming plastic waste into acetaminophen. It is a peculiar way of keeping trash out of landfills and creating medications more sustainably.
Bioenginhens of developed a way to transform the common plastic used into disposable bottles into the popular acetaminopheol analgesic (acetaminophene).
All that is needed is a little bacteria E. coli e tempo To ferment the waste treated.
This is what a study demonstrates last week in Nature Chemistry.
This approach not only reuses discarded ethylene polyterephthalate (PET), found in food bottles and packaging, but also reduces the vast amounts of fossil fuels needed to produce a widely used medicine.
As details A, the process starts with E. coli genetically modified and pet bottles lying down chemically treated.
O PET is decomposed by bacteria in a compound called terephthal acid.
Terephthalic acid is then modified in a substrate, which undergoes a chemical reaction called Losen’s rearrangement inside the living cells of the E. coli.
This reaction produces para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA)an essential nutrient that allows the growth of bacteria.
Finally, other modified metabolic roads within the same E. coli transform the Paba in Paracetamol.
As explained by New Atlas, the whole process is done at room temperature, It takes less than 24 hours and does not produce carbon emissions.
Investigators also report that about 90% of the product obtained from the reaction of the pet decomposed with the E. coli it was acetaminophen, what makes this a highly efficient and sustainable method of production of the painkiller.
Researchers now need to improve their approach before they can use it to produce acetaminophen to commercial levels.
“We are bringing exceptional companies like Astrazeneca to work with Stephen and others at the university to translate these cutting -edge discoveries into world -changing innovations,” he said Ian HatchChief of consulting at Edinburgh Innovations, to New Atlas.
