In HG Wells’ novel ‘War of the Worlds’, Earth is invaded by aliens from Mars that humans can’t stop. Because attackers do not have an immune system, it is bacteria and other microorganisms that eventually manage to outwit them. Bacteria are capital for living things. For better and for worse. provoke diseasesbut also produce antibiotics important in processes such as digestion. Scientists are now convinced of this. they can also play a key role in the fight against climate change and also in facilitating drug production..
Three studies, recently published in the journal ‘Nature Chemical Biology’, uncovered possible new uses for bacteria. On the one hand, researchers from Canadian Simon Fraser and Saskatchewan universities, bacteria sense and respond to the presence of CO2.
Carbon dioxide is a compound Necessary for life on earth. Trees need it for photosynthesis, crops yield higher if available, and some bacteria can turn it into food.
But Excess CO2 can have devastating effects on ecosystems and is a major contributor to climate change.. That’s why scientists have spent decades trying to figure out how. strike a balance. The work of Canadian experts can help discover new strategies. carbon ‘snatch’.
According to these researchers, cyanobacteria – photosynthetic organisms found in water – use carbon to create essential nutrients that sustain their life cycles. They capture it from the atmosphere, fix it and add it to simple organic molecules (proteins).
The study authors claim that: The fixation system of these organisms can be used in conjunction with industrial processes to help reduce CO2 emissions. Because they can absorb them before they are released into the atmosphere.
Methane-capturing microbes
The results of this study match those obtained in 2014 by another team of analysts from the British University of East Anglia, also published in the journal ‘Nature’. In this study, a single bacterial strain, methylocella silvestrisFound in soil and other environments worldwide, it can grow from natural gas as both methane (CH4) and propane (C3H8).
This finding means these bacteria can clean the components of natural gas very efficiently and reduce pollution. It will work for both natural gas leaking from the environment and natural gas from human activities, as well as for hydraulic fracturing or oil spills.
The effect of methane on global warming is twenty times greater than that of carbon dioxide, if the effect is assumed to be 100 years., according to scientists. Therefore, the importance of this research is ‘hijack’ methane for bioremoval before it is released into the atmosphere and already in the environment.
Methane, the second most dangerous greenhouse gas after CO2, is a hydrocarbon and the main component of natural gas. About 40% of methane comes from natural sources such as wetlands, but most human activities related to nature, intensive livestock farming, certain agricultural practices, and extraction of fossil fuels.. It is also produced in landfills and incineration of waste.
A third study in this case from the University of Austin in the United States concluded: Drugs that treat high blood pressure, pain, or memory loss may soon come from modified bacterias are grown in a container like yogurt.
Economic and sustainable alternative
By ‘hijacking’ bacteria more affordable and sustainable medicines More than what’s available, because much of it now depends on herbal products or oil, the study’s authors point out. The process of improving drug production in bacterial cells may come sooner than expected, thanks to a new bacterial tool they have developed.
The team from the University of Austin presented a bacteria-derived biosensor system. Escherichia coliAdaptable to detect any therapeutic compound accurately and in just a few hours.
“We learn how giving bacteria ‘senses’They are similar to taste or olfactory receptors and use them to detect various compounds they can produce,” said study co-author Andrew Ellington.
Taking it would be a big step forward. Because today, many drugs are produced from substances obtained from plants by complex processes. consume a lot of resources (eg a large amount of water). Obtaining similar synthetic components is also problematic, as the process is based on oil.
Using bacteria would be an “economical, efficient and sustainable” alternative.scientists stress. The genetic code of bacteria can be easily manipulated. turning them into ‘factories’ for drug production.
Through a process called biosynthesis, the biological systems of bacteria are used to produce specific molecules as part of the natural cellular process. And bacteria can multiply at high speed. All they need is sugar.
Biosensors developed by researchers at the University of Texas quickly and accurately determine the amount of a given molecule produced by a bacterial species.
They have already developed biosensors for a variety of common drugs, such as cough suppressants and vasodilators.Used to treat muscle spasms. Industry can adopt biosensors to rapidly optimize chemical production.
Simon Fraser and Universities of Saskatchewan research: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41589-022-01043-1
University of Austin research: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41589-022-01072-w
University of East Anglia study: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature13192
Source: Informacion
