Designer Microbes (E. coli) Make Painkillers (paracetamol) from Plastic Waste like PET

Good news! Amazing stuff! Bacteria can do it all! Next time you pop a painkiller ... 😊

Alert: Plastophobia is a serious disorder. Please seek immediate medical help! (Caution: satire)

"... For the past decade, ... a synthetic biologist at the University of Edinburgh, has been working on engineering microbes to produce diverse chemicals from sustainable sources. He has created bacterial factories that pump out nylon precursors using paper waste and vanilla flavor compounds from discarded plastic. Now, ... his team have designed bacteria that convert plastic waste into the widely used analgesic paracetamol.3 Published in Nature Chemistry, the technique has a negligible carbon footprint and introduces a new potential use for recycled plastic. ..."

"... A team of scientists ... used genetically reprogrammed E. coli, a harmless bacterium, to transform a molecule derived from PET known as terephthalic acid into the active ingredient of paracetamol. Researchers used a fermentation process, similar to the one used in brewing beer, to accelerate the conversion from industrial PET waste into paracetamol in less than 24 hours. The new technique was carried out at room temperature and created virtually no carbon emissions, proving that paracetamol can be produced sustainably. Further development is needed before it can be produced at commercial levels, the team says. Some 90 per cent of the product made from reacting terephthalic acid with genetically reprogrammed E. coli was paracetamol. ..."

From the abstract:

"Nature has evolved an exquisite yet limited set of chemical reactions that underpin the function of all living organisms. By contrast, the field of synthetic organic chemistry can access reactivity not observed in nature, and integration of these abiotic reactions within living systems offers an elegant solution to the sustainable synthesis of many industrial chemicals from renewable feedstocks.

Here we report a biocompatible Lossen rearrangement that is catalysed by phosphate in the bacterium Escherichia coli for the transformation of activated acyl hydroxamates to primary amine-containing metabolites in living cells.

Through auxotroph rescue, we demonstrate how this new-to-nature reaction can be used to control microbial growth and chemistry by generating the essential metabolite para-aminobenzoic acid.

The Lossen rearrangement substrate can also be synthesized from polyethylene terephthalate and applied to whole-cell biocatalytic reactions and fermentations generating industrial small molecules (including the drug paracetamol), paving the way for a general strategy to bioremediate and upcycle plastic waste in native and engineered biological systems."

Designer Microbes Make Painkillers from Plastic Waste | The Scientist "Engineered bacteria turned recycled plastic into paracetamol, a common analgesic, offering a fossil-free route to pharmaceuticals."

Microbes transform plastic waste into paracetamol (original news release) "Paracetamol production could be revolutionised by the discovery that a common bacterium can turn everyday plastic waste into the painkiller, a study reveals."

Everyday painkiller made from plastic — by E. coli "Study highlights potential for sustainable synthesis of paracetamol."

A biocompatible Lossen rearrangement in Escherichia coli (open access)

Graphical abstract

Fig. 1: Aniline synthesis from carboxylic acids in vitro and in vivo.

Fig. 3: Substrate synthesis from PET plastic waste for bioremediation.