Microbial enzymes in bovine stomach can be used to develop biofuels

U.S researchers have found a large number of previously unknown microbial enzymes in the rumen of cattle, which can be used to develop second-generation biofuels The second generation of biofuels mainly uses straw, grass, wood and other agricultural and forestry wastes as raw materials, which is more economical and environmentally friendly than the first generation of biofuels, and does not occupy arable land However, how to decompose cellulose in the cell wall of straw, grass, wood and other plant raw materials is a difficult problem in the development of the second generation of biofuels Roderick Mackay, a professor at the University of Illinois who participated in the study, said that the decomposition of polysaccharides such as cellulose in plant cell walls was actually done by cattle during rumination, so they studied the digestion mechanism of cattle and looked for enzymes that could be used to produce biofuels In this study, the researchers cultured switchgrass (a raw material for second generation biofuels) samples in the rumen of cattle for 72 hours, and then analyzed the genome of all microorganisms attached to switchgrass samples In this way, the researchers identified more than 27000 sugar active genes They implanted some of these genes into bacteria, which then produced 90 protein enzymes The results showed that most of the proteases showed activity to cellulose in plants, which belonged to the enzyme that could decompose cellulose According to the researchers, this study shows that the rumen microbes of cattle are an important source of enzymes for breaking down polysaccharides such as cellulose, which can be used to produce the second generation of biofuels on a large scale in the future (BIOON Com)