Geneticists have created bacteria that produce chemicals from fossil fuels and plastics, which is a breakthrough for the chemical industry.

Cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, are able to produce carbon from sunlight and carbon dioxide, as do plants. Scientists from the University of California at Davis adapted this process so that the bacteria used carbon dioxide to make butanediol, very useful chemical, which is used for the manufacture of paints, solvents, plastics and fuel.

Chemists worked during the experiment with the Japanese chemical company Asahi Kasei. After three weeks the growth of bacteria produced 2.4 g butanediol liters of initial substances, which is a very high performance, which previously cyanobacteria never reached.

This was a promising news, because it means that there is great potential for commercial development of this process for use in industry.

The next step for researchers is to work to improve performance before the project can be extended for use on an industrial scale.