The planet now harbors a strain of the famous bacterium Escherichia coli (e. coli) that can chew up plants and excrete biodiesel.

FORBES: Building A Better Biofuel Bug

To prove it worked, he started with a strain of the E. coli bacterium that produced small quantities of lycopene, the pigment that makes tomatoes red.

FORBES: Putting Evolution to Work

When researchers looked at all the genes inside the bacterium they concluded that it was in fact a new strain of O104.

BBC: Q&A: E. coli outbreak