Outsourcing to Mother Nature: From energy to E. coli, microbe management is big business

Playing science's genetic lottery

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Companies and universities around the globe are working on projects that bridge the worlds of microorganisms and technology. Here are some of the more notable initiatives under way:

The bacterial fuel cell
Researchers at Rice University and the University of Southern California have embarked on a project to harness the power of Shewanella oneidensis, a microorganism that essentially spits lightning. Rather than consume oxygen to turn food into energy, Shewanella consumes metals. In five years, the researchers hope to have a fuel cell that can propel itself.

"You can feed them pretty much what is available," said Andreas Luttge, associate professor of earth sciences and chemistry at Rice. "The goal would be to feed them waste water and produce energy."

Synthetic biology
A company named Amyris Biotechnology has come up with a way to produce Artemisinin--one of the world's most effective anti-malaria drugs--with genetically engineered microbes. Artemisinin is produced naturally by a wormwood plant from mangrove swamps in Southeast Asia, but providing naturally produced Artemisinin to 70 percent of Africa's malaria victims would cost about $1 billion, according to statistics from the World Health Organization.

The company grew out of research conducted by Jay Keasling at the University of California at Berkeley, who believes synthetic biology may help find antidotes for the corrosive toxin sarin, which acts as a nerve gas. Nobel Prize winner Steven Chu believes Keasling's work could also be applicable in energy production.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave a $42.5 million grant to help fund further research.

Artificial genomics
In 2003, J. Craig Venter, who first mapped the human genome, sailed around the globe. It wasn't a pleasure cruise; he and his colleagues aboard the Sorcerer II collected microbes and identified a plethora of new species.

With his company Synthetic Genomics, Venter believes he can find microorganisms that, with or without genetic modification, emit hydrogen or compounds that could help break down greenhouse gases. Other companies and researchers hope to produce ethanol, now made from cornstarch, from grass or cornstalks, which are richer in energy.

If anything, the oceans are teeming with uncharted, microscopic species. A test voyage of the Sorcerer II in the Sargasso Sea off Bermuda in early 2003 led to the discovery of 1,800 new species and 1.2 million new genes.

It will likely take years to bring many of these inventions to market, but the impact over time could be remarkable, said Steve Jurvetson, a venture capitalist with Draper, Fisher Jurvetson and an early investor in Synthetic Genomics.

"We always overestimate the immediate impact and underestimate the long-term ones," Jurvetson said. "The truly revolutionary stuff will take some time to mature."