Temperature-controlled microbe offers opportunities for biofuels

In Georgia, Michael Adams with the University of Georgia, is the senior author of a study published in mBio, reporting how he and his colleagues have made a temperature controlled microbe.  They inserted a lactate dehyrogenase gene into a strategic spot, right next to a cold shock promoter that “turns on” the genes around it when P. furiosus is out in the cold at 72ºC.

This produces a switch for controlling lactate production by putting the organism at 72ºC to turn on lactate production.  Restore it to 100ºC, and lactate production turns off.  This innovation could make it easier to use microorganisms as miniature factories for the production of needed materials like biofuels.