Gut bacteria provide key to making universal blood

In January, raging storms caused medical emergencies along the U.S. East Coast, prompting the Red Cross to issue an urgent call for blood donations. The nation’s blood supply was especially in need of O-type blood that can be universally administered in an emergency. Now, scientists say they have identified enzymes—from the human gut—that can turn type A and B blood into O, as much as 30 times more efficiently than previously studied enzymes.