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Cow rumen metagenome study in Technology Review

The first step in cellulosic biofuels is converting tough plant materials made of cellulose and lignin into sugars that can then be fermented to make fuels. But this is expensive and currently requires a large quantity of enzymes to break down cellulose. “We’re talking truckloads,” says Frances Arnold, a professor of chemical engineering at Caltech… [Read More]

Cow rumen metagenome study on ClimateWire

Scientists hunting for ways to drive down the cost of converting plant waste into fuel may have found some valuable clues in the bellies of cows. Researchers employing high-tech genetic sequencing methods identified dozens of gut-dwelling organisms that help cows break through the protective sheath that guards the sugars inside plants. Some of these enzymes… [Read More]

Cow rumen metagenome study on TVNZ

Identifying the enzymes that give the tiny bacteria this power could make it easier to turn switchgrass and other plant products into fuel in factories. Ethanol makers will produce about 49 billion litres of the renewable fuel this year, chiefly from corn. A 2007 law requires annual use of 136 billion litres from 2022 and… [Read More]

Cow rumen metagenome study on ScienceBlog

When it comes to breaking down plant matter and converting it to energy, the cow has it all figured out. Its digestive system allows it to eat more than 150 pounds of plant matter every day. Now researchers report that they have found dozens of previously unknown microbial enzymes in the bovine rumen — the… [Read More]

Cow rumen metagenome study on FavStocks

In the new study, the researchers focused on switchgrass, a promising biofuels crop. After incubating the switchgrass in the rumen for 72 hours, researchers conducted a genomic analysis of all of the microbes that adhered to switchgrass.This metagenomic approach, led by Edward Rubin, of the DOE Joint Genome Institute and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory,… [Read More]

Cow rumen metagenome study on LabSpaces

Rubin’s postdoctoral fellows Matthias Hess and Alex Sczyrba used one of the most promising large-scale bioenergy crops — switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) – and let the cows’ microbial symbionts located in the foregut perform their magic. Read more on LabSpaces [Read More]

Cow rumen metagenome study on PhysOrg

Bovines are thought to have first appeared on the landscape millions of years ago and were domesticated by humans about 10,000 years ago. Rumen microbes evolved to produce molecular machines in the form of enzymes able to efficiently deconstruct plant cell wall polysaccharides such as cellulose and hemicellulose into their constituent small sugar molecules. Another… [Read More]

Cow rumen metagenome study on ScienceBlog

The researchers also were able to assemble the genomes of 15 previously “uncultured” (never before grown in a lab) microbes, said Hess, who is first author on the new study. Several techniques, including sequencing the genomes of individual cells and comparing those to the assembled genomes, validated this approach, he said. Read more on ScienceBlog. [Read More]

Cow rumen metagenome study on redOrbit

In the new study, the researchers focused on switchgrass, a promising biofuels crop. After incubating the switchgrass in the rumen for 72 hours, researchers conducted a genomic analysis of all of the microbes that adhered to switchgrass. This “metagenomic” approach, led by Edward Rubin, of the DOE Joint Genome Institute and the Lawrence Berkeley National… [Read More]

UI on cow rumen metagenome study in ScienceDaily

The study, in the journal Science, tackles a major barrier to the development of more affordable and environmentally sustainable biofuels. Rather than relying on the fermentation of simple sugars in food crops such as corn, beets or sugar cane (which is environmentally costly and threatens the food supply) researchers are looking for better ways to… [Read More]