Scottish scientists engineer special E. coli that transforms plastic into Tylenol

E. coli is a very peculiar strain of bacteria. Healthy people and animals have a version of it in their stomachs, but you likely heard of it more often as a dangerous infection that causes stomach pain, fatigue, and illness. However, thanks to Scottish scientists, E. coli can do something else: make over-the-counter pain relievers out of plastic water bottles.

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland have reprogrammed a harmless version of E. coli that “ferments” polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic into para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA). PABA is a precursor that is used to create acetaminophen (also known as paracetamol). Many Americans would recognize acetaminophen as the brand name Tylenol, and it’s contained in other over-the-counter medicines such as Exedrin, Midol, Sudafed, and over 600 other medications to help relieve pain. While the results are still in the early stages before any form of mass production can be feasible, the scientists are hopeful that this could be a very environmentally friendly method to create medicine that also eliminates waste, too.

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“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,” said Professor Stephen Wallace, co-author of the study and UKRI Future Leaders Fellow and Chair of Chemical Biotechnology. “Based on what we’ve seen, it’s highly likely that many—or even most—bacteria can perform these kinds of transmutations. This opens up a whole new way of thinking about how we might use microbes as tiny chemical factories.”

PET plastic that is primarily used for single-use disposable water and commercial drink bottles are a major contributor to ever-growing landfills throughout the world. A 2018 report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency stated that plastic contributed to 14.8 million tons of trash in American landfills alone. Worldwide, 350 million tons of plastic waste from water bottles, milk jugs, packaging, and other items are thrown away every year. Having a method to create medicine out of some of this waste could significantly reduce it.

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Not only that, it would make the production of acetaminophen into much greener chemistry. Acetaminophen/paracetamol is considered a “coal tar analgesic” as it is derived from fossil fuels. Not only that, but the production of this medicine requires energy, usually provided through electricity and gas power. This new method would lessen the amount of fossil fuel-based energy since part of the process of acetaminophen creation would be biologically done by the E. coli while also using a plastic waste product instead of petroleum or other fossil fuels.

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This breakthrough is a big step forward for the scientific community’s movement towards green chemistry within the pharmaceutical industry. Along with the Edinburgh study, there has been a method studied in the U.S. at the University of Wisconsin that derives acetaminophen from trees in a less environmentally impactful way. Over time, the hope is that we can stop giving our Earth any more headaches as we create medicine to relieve our own.