Bacteria use caffeine as food source

Summary: A doctoral student at the university of Iowa has discovered a new bacterium that uses caffeine as a food source. The carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen in caffeine are important and necessary for cell growth. The compounds formed during the break down of caffeine are natural building blocks for drugs used to treat asthma and improve blood flow. At the moment  these pharmaceuticals are difficult to synthesize chemically. This demonstrates the enzymes and genes utilized by bacteria to live on caffeine.

Opinion: This current event caught my attention because i personally love caffeine. I think its great that caffeine when broken down is used to treat different health conditions. I think its cool that a student discovered this new bacterium. I think its great for a change that there is something positive being said about caffeine. I liked this current event because it tells about something most people don't really think about and not something extremely serious.


http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2011/05/24/bacteria_use_caffeine_as_food_source.html

                                                                                                                Bianca Brailey