Any new technology that emerges from animal microbiome mining would need to improve upon the proprietary enzyme systems already in companies’ arsenals. For example, enzyme company Novozymes is already marketing cellulase enzymes from Trichoderma reesei, a fungus originally discovered because it was degrading cotton military uniforms and canvas tents in the South Pacific during World War II. The company, which sequenced T. reesei with JGI, has slipped some of the fungal genes into other microorganisms to produce enzymes it is selling to a handful of cellulosic biofuel companies around the globe.
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