Designer Bacteria: Genetically Modified Pills Are A Radical New Way To Treat Rare Stomach Ailments

Designer bacteria are organisms that have been genetically modified to include a new function to make it do something it does not do previously. Synlogic, a Massachusetts-based start-up,…[recently] announced a new pill that contains these modified organisms that could treat a rare metabolic disease that affects the stomach.

We normally expel the excess nitrogen by [urinating it] out of the body. However, some people can’t process nitrogen fast enough, leading to ammonia levels that are toxic enough to kill the person. The modified bacteria [in the pill] rectifies this by soaking up the ammonia and turning it into arginine, a harmless amino acid.

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