Using a process called adaptive laboratory evolution, scientists found that a single genetic change allows N. aromaticivorans to digest acetovanillone. DNA analysis predicts that many other bacteria use similar proteins to digest this and other related aromatic compounds.
Lignin is the planet’s most abundant renewable source of aromatics, but more research is needed to economically turn them into useful products. This work provides the first evidence that a common but previously uncharacterized family of proteins can digest aromatics and highlights how native and engineered microbes can convert these chemicals into industrial products.
Read the full story here: https://energy.wisc.edu/news/newly-discovered-protein-expands-microbial-palates