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How a Microbe Helped Found Israel It may be hard to believe that something as tiny as a microscopic organism can be a mover and shaker behind policies and nations, but take the case of Clostridium acetobutylicum, the bacterium that helped create Israel. During World War I, the British military found itself facing a severe shortage of acetone, a chemical needed to make the highly-explosive material that propelled shells from warship guns. Acetone was then made by distilling wood. A young chemist working at the University of Mannchester named Chaim Weizmann was called upon to devise a new, better method for producing acetone.

Escherichia coli The white mouse of microbial research, E. coli is one of the most extensively studied bacteria and frequently used research tools. Millions of E. coli live in your intestines, helping you digest your food and synthesizing B vitamins essential to your health. E. coli bacteria have been genetically engineered to make numerous industrial enzymes and medicines such as insulin and growth hormones.

Weizmann had come to Britain after pursuing an education in Switzerland. He was compelled to leave his homeland in western Russia to pursue his fortunes because restrictive quotas on Jews prevented him from entering a university there. Within a few weeks of receiving the military's plea for help, Weizmann had succeeded in solving the acetone problem with the assistance of C. acetobutylicum, a common bacterium that grows normally on corn and other grains. Weizmann harnassed the power of this little microbe to transform the starch from grain into acetone and butyl alcohol - an efficient and inexpensive way to produce bulk quantities of the needed chemical. When Munitions Minister David Lloyd George offered to petition the Prime Minister to honor Weizmann for his brilliant solution, the chemist declined saying his only hope and goal was the repatriation of Jewish people throughout the world. When Lloyd George later became Prime Minister, he advanced Weizmann's cause, and ultimately the State of Israel was created with Weizmann as its first president.

Had C. acetobutylicum not presented Weizmann the ingenious solution that elicited the admiration and gratitude of Britian's influential prime minister, the Middle East might be a very different place today. This account is drawn from Power Unseen: How Microbes Rule the World, a book of microbial vignettes by Bernard Dixon.

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