Latest news with #PABA
Japan Today
a day ago
- Health
- Japan Today
E.coli can turn plastic into painkillers, chemists discover
Paracetamol can be made by combining the bacteria and plastic waste, scientists have discovered Scientists have found a way to use the bacteria to convert plastic waste into a popular painkiller, a study said, though outside experts doubted the technique would make a dent in the fight against plastic pollution. Paracetamol, which is one of the most commonly used drugs worldwide, is made from the derivatives of fossil fuels, often by Asia-based subcontractors using cheap, polluting methods that contribute to climate change. The world is also facing an escalating crisis of plastic pollution, with countries set for another bruising round of negotiations in August in the hope of sealing an international treaty to reduce plastic waste. The British team of researchers behind the new study sought to find a solution to the two problems by roping in a third -- which is normally known for making people sick when they eat contaminated food. First the chemists used a molecule derived from PET plastic, which is used in bottles and many other plastic products the world over, to spark a chemical reaction in a strain of This created a molecule they called PABA, according to the Nature Chemistry study, which was partly funded by drug firm AstraZeneca. By genetically modifying the bacteria, the chemists were able to transform their molecule into acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol. "This work demonstrates that PET plastic isn't just waste or a material destined to become more plastic -- it can be transformed by microorganisms into valuable new products, including those with potential for treating disease," lead study Stephen Wallace said in a statement. Singaporean researchers not involved in the study praised how it combined synthetic and biological chemistry. But "several practical considerations remain" to take this idea beyond the proof-of-concept stage, they wrote in a linked commentary in the journal Nature Chemistry. The chemical reaction produces only a limited amount of PABA molecules, which "may be insufficient for industrial applications", they wrote. Melissa Valliant, communications director of the Beyond Plastics project of Bennington College in the United States, expressed skepticism. "A new 'plastic-eating bacteria' pops up in the news every few months and has been doing so for years," she told AFP. "These discoveries never scale up to anything significant enough to tackle the massive plastic pollution problem." This "crisis needs to be stopped at the source," she added, which means "companies and policymakers must reduce the amount of plastic being produced and used in the first place". © 2025 AFP
The Hindu
2 days ago
- Science
- The Hindu
Science for all: New research opens doors to upcycling plastic waste into paracetamol
(This article forms a part of the Science for All newsletter that takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Subscribe now!) Scientists at the University of Edinburgh have found a way to make a classic lab reaction, called the Lossen rearrangement, happen safely inside living Escherichia coli cells — thus opening a potential new path to recycling plastic waste into valuable products. The team started with a bacterium that couldn't make para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA), a small molecule every cell needs to build DNA. When the mutant strain was given PABA, it grew. Without it, the strain was stalled. Researchers fed the cells a synthetic compound, simply called 1, that would release PABA only if a Lossen rearrangement reaction took place. After 72 hours at 37 degrees C, the bacteria cultures turned cloudy, proving the reaction, and therefore PABA production, had taken place inside the flask. The cloudiness test allowed the authors to track chemistry and cell health at the same time. The reaction worked even when the researchers added no metal catalyst. They were able to figure out with more tests that ordinary phosphate ions, which are present in most cell media and inside cells themselves, quietly catalysed the rearrangement reaction. High-performance liquid-chromatography measurements revealed that active, growing cells sped up the reaction up even more. The team also found that none of the tested substrates harmed cell growth at realistic concentrations, meaning they were not toxic to the bacteria. Compound 1 was easy to make from terephthalic acid, which is the basic unit of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) soda bottles. This means the Lossen rearrangement reaction happening inside the bacteria could consume (a form of) plastic to produce a different, newly useful compound. The researchers shredded a used bottle, hydrolysed it to terephthalic acid, and converted that into PET-1. The mutant E. coli strain grew just as well on PET-1 as on the lab-grade material, directly linking plastic-waste upcycling to biomass production and hinting at future bioremediation strategies. Because the rescued cells stayed healthy, the team next checked whether they could perform additional tasks while the Lossen rearrangement reaction ticked on in the background. Indeed, cultures containing Compound 1 smoothly reduced dimethyl maleate and keto-acrylates to their saturated products using native bacterial enzymes — proof that abiotic and biotic chemistries could cooperate in one setting. Finally, the authors built a two-enzyme genetic pathway: a fungal hydroxylase turned PABA into 4-aminophenol while a bacterial N-acetyl-transferase capped it with an acetyl group to yield paracetamol, the highly popular pain-relieving drug. In fact, the researchers were able to convert up to 92% of PET-1 into paracetamol in one simple brew. From the Science pages Question Corner Why is the El Niño so hard to predict? Find out here Flora and fauna
Herald Sun
4 days ago
- Health
- Herald Sun
Scientists are turning plastic into painkillers
Don't miss out on the headlines from Lifestyle. Followed categories will be added to My News. Plastic water bottles litter the roads, parks, and waterways and take forever to break down. Now researchers have figured out how to turn the waste into paracetamol. We're seeing plastic water bottles recycled into bikinis, bags, furniture, vases, art, and clothes, but now scientists have figured out how to turn waste from the rubbish into painkillers. According to CNN, more than one million bottles of water are sold every minute worldwide, and around 85 per cent end up as waste. Lead author of a paper explaining the conversion process from litter to paracetamol, Stephen Wallace, told The Guardian it 'is a way to just completely hoover up plastic waste'. How is plastic turned into paracetamol? The research team from the University of Edinburgh took a plastic used in bottles and food packaging, called polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and converted it into a new material. This was then converted into a solid called Para-Aminobenzoic Acid (PABA), likely via a chemical reaction called a Lossen rearrangement, which would usually only occur under intense lab conditions. But the scientists found the conversion happened spontaneously when they incubated the material with a strain of E coli. But the scientists found the conversion happened spontaneously when they incubated the material with a strain of E coli. The PABA was then made into paracetamol, or acetaminophen, after the team added genes from mushrooms and soil bacteria to the E coli. They noted that PABA is usually made in other substances' cells, and is essential for bacteria to grow. But the genetically modified E coli blocked the typical pathways, so the material from the PET had to be used instead. But the analgesic is typically made from benzene, which comes from petroleum. Image: iStock The bacteria facilitated the conversion in less than 24 hours, and the researchers claimed emissions remained low. How is paracetamol usually made? Another research team from the University of Bath's Department of Chemistry and Institute for Sustainability previously managed to make both paracetamol and ibuprofen from a chemical derived from pine trees, which is also a waste product from paper manufacturing. But the analgesic is typically made from benzene, which comes from petroleum, so researchers are excited by the possibility of a more sustainable production option for the widely sold drug. We can make paracetamol more sustainably and clean up plastic waste from the environment at the same Getty The team doesn't believe plastic waste will be a part of the commercial production of the painkiller for a while, but Wallace explained, 'what this technology shows is that by merging chemistry and biology in this way for the first time, we can make paracetamol more sustainably and clean up plastic waste from the environment at the same time.' 'It enables, for the first time, a pathway from plastic waste to paracetamol, which is not possible using biology alone, and it's not possible using chemistry alone', the lead author added. Originally published as Scientists are turning plastic into painkillers
Express Tribune
4 days ago
- Health
- Express Tribune
E.coli can turn plastic into painkillers, chemists discover
The British team of researchers behind the new study sought to find a solution to the two problems by roping in a third -- which is normally known for making people sick when they eat contaminated food. PHOTO: PIXABAY Scientists have found a way to use the bacteria to convert plastic waste into a popular painkiller, a study said Monday, though outside experts doubted the technique would make a dent in the fight against plastic pollution. Paracetamol, which is one of the most commonly used drugs worldwide, is made from the derivatives of fossil fuels, often by Asia-based subcontractors using cheap, polluting methods that contribute to climate change. The world is also facing an escalating crisis of plastic pollution, with countries set for another bruising round of negotiations in August in the hope of sealing an international treaty to reduce plastic waste. The British team of researchers behind the new study sought to find a solution to the two problems by roping in a third -- which is normally known for making people sick when they eat contaminated food. First the chemists used a molecule derived from PET plastic, which is used in bottles and many other plastic products the world over, to spark a chemical reaction in a strain of This created a molecule they called PABA, according to the Nature Chemistry study, which was partly funded by drug firm AstraZeneca. By genetically modifying the bacteria, the chemists were able to transform their molecule into acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol. "This work demonstrates that PET plastic isn't just waste or a material destined to become more plastic -- it can be transformed by microorganisms into valuable new products, including those with potential for treating disease," lead study Stephen Wallace said in a statement. Singaporean researchers not involved in the study praised how it combined synthetic and biological chemistry. But "several practical considerations remain" to take this idea beyond the proof-of-concept stage, they wrote in a linked commentary in the journal Nature Chemistry. The chemical reaction produces only a limited amount of PABA molecules, which "may be insufficient for industrial applications", they wrote. Melissa Valliant, communications director of the Beyond Plastics project of Bennington College in the United States, expressed scepticism. "A new 'plastic-eating bacteria' pops up in the news every few months and has been doing so for years," she told AFP. "These discoveries never scale up to anything significant enough to tackle the massive plastic pollution problem." This "crisis needs to be stopped at the source," she added, which means "companies and policymakers must reduce the amount of plastic being produced and used in the first place".
Express Tribune
4 days ago
- Health
- Express Tribune
E. coli can turn plastic into painkillers, chemists discover
The British team of researchers behind the new study sought to find a solution to the two problems by roping in a third -- which is normally known for making people sick when they eat contaminated food. PHOTO: PIXABAY Scientists have found a way to use the bacteria to convert plastic waste into a popular painkiller, a study said Monday, though outside experts doubted the technique would make a dent in the fight against plastic pollution. Paracetamol, which is one of the most commonly used drugs worldwide, is made from the derivatives of fossil fuels, often by Asia-based subcontractors using cheap, polluting methods that contribute to climate change. The world is also facing an escalating crisis of plastic pollution, with countries set for another bruising round of negotiations in August in the hope of sealing an international treaty to reduce plastic waste. The British team of researchers behind the new study sought to find a solution to the two problems by roping in a third -- which is normally known for making people sick when they eat contaminated food. First the chemists used a molecule derived from PET plastic, which is used in bottles and many other plastic products the world over, to spark a chemical reaction in a strain of This created a molecule they called PABA, according to the Nature Chemistry study, which was partly funded by drug firm AstraZeneca. By genetically modifying the bacteria, the chemists were able to transform their molecule into acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol. "This work demonstrates that PET plastic isn't just waste or a material destined to become more plastic -- it can be transformed by microorganisms into valuable new products, including those with potential for treating disease," lead study Stephen Wallace said in a statement. Singaporean researchers not involved in the study praised how it combined synthetic and biological chemistry. But "several practical considerations remain" to take this idea beyond the proof-of-concept stage, they wrote in a linked commentary in the journal Nature Chemistry. The chemical reaction produces only a limited amount of PABA molecules, which "may be insufficient for industrial applications", they wrote. Melissa Valliant, communications director of the Beyond Plastics project of Bennington College in the United States, expressed scepticism. "A new 'plastic-eating bacteria' pops up in the news every few months and has been doing so for years," she told AFP. "These discoveries never scale up to anything significant enough to tackle the massive plastic pollution problem." This "crisis needs to be stopped at the source," she added, which means "companies and policymakers must reduce the amount of plastic being produced and used in the first place".
