By selectively deleting six specific genes in a strain of E. coli, Texas A&M University Professor Thomas Wood has enhanced the bacterium’s naturally occurring glucose-conversion process to produce around 140 times more hydrogen than normal. Professor Wood imagines that the “tweaked” bacteria could actually be used as a potential source of clean energy. Most hydrogen is currently extracted through a process known as “cracking water,” which is inefficient and expensive.

“These bacteria have 5,000 genes that enable them to survive environmental changes,” Wood said. “When we knock things out, the bacteria become less competitive. We haven’t given them an ability to do something. They don’t gain anything here; they lose. The bacteria that we’re making are less competitive and less harmful because of what’s been removed.”

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