How an industrial microbe converts carbon monoxide into biofuel

How an industrial microbe converts carbon monoxide into biofuel

How do you turn toxic waste into fuel? Ask the microbe. A team of scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, together with a colleague from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, experimentally demonstrates the molecular tricks used by the gas-converting microbe Clostridium autoethanogenum to transform industrial waste gases into ethanol—a finding with enormous implications for sustainable fuel an…

Industrial microbe enables conversion of carbon monoxide to ethanol

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Oct 30, 2025 A team of scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, working with a colleague from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, has experimentally clarified the molecular mechanisms used by Clostridium autoethanogenum to transform industrial waste gases into ethanol. This microbe, originally isolated from rabbit droppings, thrives in environments contai