Scientists have modified E. coli to produce the painkiller and anti-inflammatory drug paracetamol from the decomposition products of plastic bottles. To do this, they treated the plastic bottles themselves with a substance that broke down PET plastic into smaller fragments.
Their bacteria can be used to synthesize not only drugs, but also other biological substances, while consuming less energy and producing fewer greenhouse gas emissions than traditional methods of their production. Research published in the journal Nature Chemistry.
The researchers aimed to address two problems at once: the accumulation of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the plastic used in bottles and food packaging that make up a significant portion of plastic waste, and the need to use petroleum byproducts in the manufacture of drugs. They adapted the Lossen rearrangement reaction, which allows for the production of biologically active substances from polymer breakdown products, to flow inside Escherichia coli cells.
First, they used chemical reactions to convert PET into terephthalic acid, which the bacteria could use to carry out the Lossen rearrangement. In one variant of this rearrangement, the E. coli produced paracetamol with an efficiency of 92 percent. In another, it produced a compound important to the bacteria themselves, para-aminobenzoic acid, with which microbiologists can influence the growth of other bacteria they need. At the same time, this approach uses significantly less water and energy than is required for the chemical synthesis of drugs, so it is more economical and environmentally friendly.
