Carbon dioxide has been threatening the environment for some time now. As humanity continues to use equipment that emits carbon dioxide, the effects of global warming could become worse. Now though there might be use for carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide might not be that dangerous of harnessed well.
Plants and trees can use some of the carbon dioxides that is polluting our air, though carbon dioxide synthesis could only be done so much by them. While there might be an issue there, some scientists see this as an opportunity to create new ways to harness carbon dioxide. Currently, such efforts to use carbon dioxide as a possible fuel source has been limited.
That might change as researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg, Germany have collaborated with the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute in making a new enzyme that is capable of synthesizing carbon dioxide. This enzyme is said to be much faster than enzymes found in nature that can synthesize it. The researchers did not restrict themselves to natural enzymes but also made those that can be biomechanically be created.
DNA synthesis is the process wherein a genetic code is taken and then having that code made into a new system. 17 different enzymes from nine different organisms were used and studied, according to Science Daily. From there they were able to make an enzyme that is more efficient than any found in nature. The study has been led by Tobias Erb of the Max Planck Institute.
Reverse engineering has been used as well in order to make the new enzyme. This is by deconstructing the central carbon dioxide fixation reaction sequence. Further on they replaced the sequences to alternative pathway sequences. The Department of Energy helped by synthesizing a number of enzymes. From there the team selected which among those has the highest carbon dioxide fixation ability and then made one that would be much better.
The use of enzymes in converting carbon dioxide would be much better and more natural than chemical processes for it, as News Wise states. There could also be future applications for this especially industrially, where the need to limit carbon dioxide emissions is very much urgent. It would be much safer in the long run to have enzymes that could process carbon dioxide as well as hopefully bring down global warming.
As climate change and global warming continue, people are finding ways to limit carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide might not be that dangerous if harnessed well, and some researchers might have found a way that could be safe as well as natural. As researchers look into it, a report states that there is lesser carbon emission this year.
