The Study
A simple, fast and inexpensive approach using E. coli to detect and estimate vitamin B12 content in microbial extracts
This study didn't test if vitamin B12 makes people healthier or sicker — it just built a new tool to measure how much vitamin B12 is in bacteria. Think of it like inventing a new ruler to measure how tall a plant is, but not saying whether that plant will grow better or make you stronger.
Analysis score
Maximum 0 for a computational/algorithm study.
Where the score came from
Scientists used a special E. coli that can only grow if it gets vitamin B12 — like a hungry kid who only eats food with B12. They fed it extracts from other bacteria and saw which ones made the E. coli grow.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 50 / 100
Quality score
Based on clinical experience or non-systematic literature reviews. The lowest level of evidence as they are most susceptible to bias and personal perspective.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — this means some bacteria in nature make a lot of B12, which could help animals like worms (and maybe humans) get this essential nutrient from their food.
- 2The E.
- 3coli grew when given extracts from 4 wild bacteria — especially Comamonas piscis and Pseudomonas berkeleyensis, which had 25–27 nanomoles of B12 per unit of bacterial density.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Biology Open
Year
2025
Authors
Katarzyna Hencel, Matthew Sullivan, Alper Akay
Related Content
Claims (6)
Vitamin B12 is required for normal human bodily functions and is not naturally produced in usable amounts by plants or fungi.
A genetically modified strain of E. coli bacteria can measure vitamin B12 levels as low as 50 picomolar in biological samples, allowing rapid screening of vitamin B12 production in other bacteria without using costly chromatography machines.
Cell-free extracts from two specific bacterial strains, Comamonas piscis BIGb0172 and Pseudomonas berkeleyensis MSPm1, contain about 25–27 nanomoles of vitamin B12 per unit of optical density, a level higher than that found in extracts from other wild bacterial strains tested using E. coli B834 (DE3) growth as a measurement.
The E. coli B834 (DE3) assay detects vitamin B12 production by showing no growth when exposed to extracts from bacteria that do not produce vitamin B12, while it shows growth when exposed to extracts from bacteria that do produce vitamin B12.
The E. coli B834 (DE3) assay reliably identifies vitamin B12 in biological samples by only growing when vitamin B12 is present, and it does not grow when other nutrients like methionine are present instead.
A laboratory test using E. coli B834 (DE3) detects bacteria from the gut of Caenorhabditis elegans that produce vitamin B12, and four such bacteria previously predicted to produce it have been confirmed by their ability to support growth in the test system.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.