Metagenomic Discovery of Biomass-Degrading Genes and Genomes from Cow Rumen
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory · Joint Genome Institute · +4 more institutions
Abstract
The paucity of enzymes that efficiently deconstruct plant polysaccharides represents a major bottleneck for industrial-scale conversion of cellulosic biomass into biofuels. Cow rumen microbes specialize in degradation of cellulosic plant material, but most members of this complex community resist cultivation. To characterize biomass-degrading genes and genomes, we sequenced and analyzed 268 gigabases of metagenomic DNA from microbes adherent to plant fiber incubated in cow rumen. From these data, we identified 27,755 putative carbohydrate-active genes and expressed 90 candidate proteins, of which 57% were enzymatically active against cellulosic substrates. We also assembled 15 uncultured microbial genomes,…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 86.45
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 30
Authors
17- MHMatthias HessCorresponding
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Joint Genome Institute
- ASAlexander Sczyrba
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Joint Genome Institute
- RERob Egan
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Joint Genome Institute
- TKTae‐Wan Kim
Energy Biosciences Institute, University of California, Berkeley
- HAHarshal A. Chokhawala
Energy Biosciences Institute, University of California, Berkeley
Topics & keywords
- Metagenomics
- Rumen
- Biomass (ecology)
- Genome
- Gene
- Biology
- Enzyme
- Microorganism