Dhaka Oct. 3, 2013.  In a letter entitled, “Microbial production of short-chain alkanes,” published online in the 29th Sept., issue  of Nature, Yong Jun Choi and Sang Yup affiliated to Bioinformatics and BioProcess Engineering Research Center, KAIST, South Korea have reported the development of a microbial platform for production of a gasoline substitute. Mention may be made here that  gasoline is made up of short chain hydrocarbons, called alkanes, consisting of 4 to12 carbon atoms. The KAIST research team engineered the fatty acid metabolism in Echerichia  coli to provide the fatty acid derivatives that are shorter than normal intra-cellular fatty acid metabolites. The concerned scientists  introduced a novel synthetic pathway that led to the production of short-chain alkanes, a possible substitute for gasoline. The final engineered  E. coli strain produced up to 580.8 mg per liter of short chain alkanes.

While congratulating heartily Korean scientists on their outstanding achievement, GNOBB suggests that the National Institute of Biotechnology NIB to embark upon such a novel project to mitigate the fossil fuel shortage in the country. An MoU between the South  Korean Government and that of BD may be signed to initiate such a research project between the friendly Asian countries,