A bacterium is fulfilling a long-cherished wish of many chemists. The E. coli bacterium, which has been modified to equip it with special enzymes, has been shown to make building blocks for plastics, such as polyesters, directly from petroleum components called alkanes, using very little energy. This study was carried out by Youri van Nuland and he obtained his doctorate for this research at Wageningen University & Research on 20 October.