Researchers find an enzyme that harvests light to make hydrocarbons

Some researchers may have figured out a way to get biology to convert fats directly to hydrocarbons using nothing more than sunlight. They've identified an enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of fats to long hydrocarbons, which could be used as fuel with no further modification.

Last year, French researchers discovered that certain species of algae are able to convert fats directly to hydrocarbons. Their new paper describes how they figured out why these algae are able to do so.

The researchers took a gene from the algae, tweaked it and transferred it to a bacteria. Once it was transferred to the bacteria, they were also able to convert fats to hydrocarbons.

UCJ, UNILORIN.