BP has invested in the company, Synthetic Genomics, involved in a new field, synthetic biology.
Scientists from BP and Synthetic Genomics will sequence the genes of microorganisms that live in fossil fuel deposits and then find ways to exploit properties of these single-celled animals on an industrial scale.
They believe microbes may one day help speed up the formation of hydrocarbons, create cleaner fuels or help oil companies extract more oil out of underground deposits. Currently, the industry gets only a fraction of the oil out of deposits.
In synthetic biology, scientists identify a potentially useful metabolic process found in nature and try to devise ways to replicate it in a lab.
Amyris Biotechnologies, for example, has been able to artificially produce a naturally occurring malaria medicine; it also hopes to make low carbon jet fuel. Cambrios Technologies has identified microbial proteins that can act sort of like a glue in semiconductors. Others hope to devise synthetic proteins to break down plant mass into ethanol.
Loading...