Eschericha coli, or E. coli bacteria have found uses other than being the cause of food poisoning.

Astoundingly, a group of British and Finnish scientists have successfully derived propane gas from E. coli.

Propane made from the bacteria can be used for everyday necessities like heating and fueling cars. More importantly, it's a viable, cost-friendly and totally renewable alternative to fossil fuels.

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The fact that E. coli creates a lot of fatty acids is the reason the team focused on this particular bacteria.

On the other hand, normal biodiesels consist of long chain fatty acids that are commonly derived from vegetable oil or animal fats.

Scientists synthesized the propane by injecting an enzyme called Thioestarase into E. coli. Two more enzymes were eventually added to turn the fatty acids into propane.

They took genes from Thioestarase and injected these genes into the E. coli bacteria. The bacteria were tricked into creating propane instead of cell membranes.

While E. coli has already been used with blue-green algae to make biofuel, this process isn't commercially viable, according to an story in The Guardian.

This is because the cost of harvesting and processing the algae is too expensive, and a large-scale infrastructure doesn't exist to support this process.

Propane requires minimal energy use and is relatively inexpensive.

While the team of scientists only managed to produce small amounts of propane, they indicate the gas is ready for use in cars.

They stress that propane can be made from a renewable source and this is an encouraging advantage.

The team is hopeful renewable propane created from E. coli bacteria can be made in commercial quantities within 10 years' time.

"At the moment, we don't have a full grasp of exactly how the fuel molecules are made, so we are now trying to find out exactly how this process unfolds," said Patrick Jones, lead study author.

TagsE. coli, propane, Thioestarase, renewable