The reason for scientists attempting to create bacteria that can process caffeine is because caffeine and related chemical compounds have become common, and important, water pollutants. This is due to the widespread use in coffee, soda pop, tea, energy drinks, chocolate and certain medications (such as prescription drugs for asthma and other lung diseases).
For example, caffeine pollution was found in high levels in the Pacific Ocean off Oregon, according to
National Geographic. Such levels could be damaging for marine life, according to Portland State University
Professor Elise Granek.
The creation of a genetically engineered bacterium (a type of
Escherichia coli), the
research brief notes, was based on the properties of a natural soil bacterium called
Pseudomonas putida CBB5. The soil bacterium can actually live solely on caffeine, based on a University of Iowa
discovery made in 2011.
In order to create a bacterium suitable for wastewater, the scientists transferred the genetic material responsible for metabolizing, or breaking down, caffeine from the soil bacterium into a type of
E. coli bacterium.
Trials so far indicate that the genetically modified
E. coli is effective at ‘decaffeination’ and has great potential for addressing wastewater pollutants.
The findings have been
published in the journal ACS Synthetic Biology.
