If you were a scientist, what metabolic capability of bacteria would you try to discover to solve a human or environmental problem? Why?
We know that bacteria and archaea are very diverse in their metabolic capabilities, such as the consumption of organic waste and carbon dioxide and the creation of others such as oxygen, alcohol, methane, nitrates, and antibiotics. Amazingly these known capabilities only come form the 1-10% of prokaryotes that have been identified. Scientists hypothesize that at least 90% are undiscovered and have potential metabolic capabilities we could harness to benefit human life. If you were a scientist, what metabolic capability of bacteria would you try to discover to solve a human or environmental problem? Why?
