Love it or hate it, E. coli is a “Jack of all trades”. Fifty years of research has made this small organism the best characterized living thing on the planet. And, this activity doesn’t look like it will let up anytime soon. With all the molecular biology tools available for E. coli, adding or removing genes can be successfully completed within a week (if you are in a hot streak). Manipulating its metabolism genetically can lead to production of a desired molecule or protein of up to 90% the total cellular output. In other words, you can turn E. coli towards ethical slavery.

With the increasing ease of synthetic biology, manipulating E. coli is becoming more sophisticated. Introducing entire metabolic pathways complete with gene regulators is now possible. One can now envision feeding E. coli plant biomass and it pooping out diesel fuel.

Related articles