In Veronique Greenwood's current article, "Why Bacteria, But Not Humans, Can Live on Caffeine", Greenwood informs he readers about the new bacteria, Pseudomonas putida CCB5, about how humans can not really get energy from caffeine, and about the difference in human enzymes and the bacterium enzymes.
Ryan Summers, the doctoral candidate who represented the research on the bacterium, points out, "P. putida CCB5 possesses several enzymes that do things to caffeine that we[humans] can't. Specifically, it breaks down the two carbon and nitrogen rings at the molecule's core."
The passage included the difference between human enzymes and the new bacterium's enzymes, when it says, "Human liver enzymes can remove the CH3 groups stuck to the rings of caffeine, just as bacterial enzymes do. But after that, while humans show xanthine, the caffeine derivatives, the bacteria hang onto them, chopping down the rings to their component elements and harvesting energy."
The text then concludes, "The specific reason caffeine isn't an energy source for us[humans], is that we don't have the gear to digest derivatives further. We can do other things with them-usually, pop an oxygen on xanthine to make uric acid and pee it out-but taking them apart isn't possible.
While reading this text, déjà vu, of biology and chemistry class, went through my mind. We always used to study about enzymes, and different materials that can be broke down, and what experiments could prove the statements.
The great discovery of the bacteria, P. putida CCB5, does not serve as much purpose today though; if scientists continue further research, then the bacteria may one day be used for medical practices. Who knows, it may be even be the cure for cancer!
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