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Enzymes from horse feces could hold secrets to streamlining biofuel production
http://portal.acs.org/portal/PublicWebSite/pressroom/newsreleases/CNBP_032591[font face=Serif]EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE | April 11, 2013
[font size=5]Enzymes from horse feces could hold secrets to streamlining biofuel production[/font]
[font size=3]NEW ORLEANS, April 11, 2013 — Stepping into unexplored territory in efforts to use corn stalks, grass and other non-food plants to make biofuels, scientists today described the discovery of a potential treasure-trove of candidate enzymes in fungi thriving in the feces and intestinal tracts of horses.
They reported on these enzymes — the key to economical production of biofuels from non-food plant material — at the 245[small]th[/small] National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS). More than 14,000 scientists and others are expected for the meeting of ACS, the world’s largest scientific society, which continues here through Thursday.
…
“There was relatively little scientific knowledge about fungi in the digestive tracts of these large animals,” O’Malley explained. “They are there, but in very low numbers, making it difficult to study. The low concentrations also fostered a misconception that fungi must be unimportant in digestion of cellulose. And it is extremely difficult to isolate and grow these fungi to study their enzymes.”
O’Malley’s research group at the University of California, Santa Barbara, collaborated with researchers at the Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. They worked with a gut fungus isolated from horse feces and identified all the genetic material that the fungus uses to manufacture enzymes and other proteins. This collection of protein-encoding material — the fungus’s so-called “transcriptome” — led to the identification of literally hundreds of enzymes capable of breaking through that tough lignin in plant cell walls and the cellulose within. The team now is shifting through that bounty to identify the most active enzyme and working on methods for transferring the genetic machinery for its production into the yeast currently used in industrial processes.
…[/font][/font]
[font size=5]Enzymes from horse feces could hold secrets to streamlining biofuel production[/font]
[font size=3]NEW ORLEANS, April 11, 2013 — Stepping into unexplored territory in efforts to use corn stalks, grass and other non-food plants to make biofuels, scientists today described the discovery of a potential treasure-trove of candidate enzymes in fungi thriving in the feces and intestinal tracts of horses.
They reported on these enzymes — the key to economical production of biofuels from non-food plant material — at the 245[small]th[/small] National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS). More than 14,000 scientists and others are expected for the meeting of ACS, the world’s largest scientific society, which continues here through Thursday.
…
“There was relatively little scientific knowledge about fungi in the digestive tracts of these large animals,” O’Malley explained. “They are there, but in very low numbers, making it difficult to study. The low concentrations also fostered a misconception that fungi must be unimportant in digestion of cellulose. And it is extremely difficult to isolate and grow these fungi to study their enzymes.”
O’Malley’s research group at the University of California, Santa Barbara, collaborated with researchers at the Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. They worked with a gut fungus isolated from horse feces and identified all the genetic material that the fungus uses to manufacture enzymes and other proteins. This collection of protein-encoding material — the fungus’s so-called “transcriptome” — led to the identification of literally hundreds of enzymes capable of breaking through that tough lignin in plant cell walls and the cellulose within. The team now is shifting through that bounty to identify the most active enzyme and working on methods for transferring the genetic machinery for its production into the yeast currently used in industrial processes.
…[/font][/font]
4 replies
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Interesting story.
