A dearth of ways to efficiently digest the plant fibre cellulose has stymied efforts to develop plant-based biofuels. Genomic sequencing of bacteria from the cow's digestive system has turned up enzymes that might address this problem, reports a team led by Edward Rubin of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California.
The researchers sequenced 268 gigabases of DNA from microbes that adhered to plant material in the rumen of the cow, a champion cellulose digester. The microbes were collected directly from the cow rumen through a port (pictured). The researchers identified 27,755 genes possibly involved in carbohydrate digestion, and produced protein from 90 that had similarities to known enzymes with particular attributes. More than half demonstrated enzymatic activity against a panel of 10 cellulose-containing plants.
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Cow spills guts for biofuels. Nature 470, 8 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/470008c
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/470008c
