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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]

UI on cow rumen metagenome study in EurekAlert

“The problem with second-generation biofuels is the problem of unlocking the soluble fermentable sugars that are in the plant cell wall,” said University of Illinois animal sciences professor Roderick Mackie, an author on the study whose research into the microbial life of the bovine rumen set the stage for the new approach. “The cow’s been… [Read More]

Cow rumen metagenome study on Reuters

In this case, the goal was to find microbes that make enzymes that can efficiently break down the toughest fibers in switchgrass, a tough crop that can be used to produce ethanol and which can grow in places where food crops do not grow well. But switchgrass is very tough to break down. Read more… [Read More]

Cow rumen metagenome study on MSNBC.com

“Cellulosic ethanol” would use non-food plants such as switchgrass, which is one of the most promising bioenergy crops. But, while advances have been made, it’s still not economically viable.The researchers didn’t come up with the magic mix of enzymes that will most efficiently break down switchgrass and other non-food plants. But they — and the… [Read More]

Cow rumen metagenome study in Scientific American

“If the industry is going to move forward, it’s going to need new enzymes,” says Eddy Rubin, the director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute. Rubin and 16 colleagues report in the January 28 issue of Science how they discovered nearly 30,000 new enzyme candidates by analyzing DNA collected from a cow’s… [Read More]

Cow rumen metagenome study on EurekAlert

“Microbes have evolved over millions of years to efficiently degrade recalcitrant biomass,” said Eddy Rubin, Director of the JGI and a lead on this study. “Communities of these organisms can be found in diverse ecosystems, such as in the rumen of cows, the guts of termites, in compost piles, as well as covering the forest… [Read More]

Cow rumen metagenome study in This Week in Science

Identification of additional enzymes that can degrade cellulose efficiently should help in the development of biofuels on an industrial scale. Uncultured microorganisms living in cow rumen are highly effective at degrading plant cell walls. Hess et al. used metagenomics and single-genome sequencing to assemble draft genomes from microbes adhering to rumen-incubated switchgrass to identify nearly… [Read More]