One Step Closer: USU Chemists Convert Greenhouse Gas to Fuel
Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012 USU biochemistry professor Lance
Seefeldt, left, and doctoral student Zhiyong Yang published
findings in the Nov. 12, 2012, early online edition of 'The
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.' Yang and
Seefeldt used genetic engineering to remodel a nitrogenase
protein so it can convert carbon dioxide into methane. What if
you could take greenhouse gas and convert it to fuel for an
energy-hungry world? “That’s currently a ‘holy grail’ of
science,” says Utah State University biochemist Lance Seefeldt.
“Imagine the far-reaching benefits of capturing environmentally
damaging byproducts of burning fossil fuels and using them to
make alternative fuels.” Yet that’s exactly what Seefeldt and
USU graduate student Zhiyong Yang accomplished using modern
genetics. With colleagues Vivian Moure of Brazil’s Federal
University of Paraná and Dennis Dean of Virginia Tech, the
scientists published findings in the Nov. 12, 2012, online