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Method development to facilitate expression profiling of the biomass-degrading rumen microbiome


EMSL Project ID
48020

Abstract

Fungi play a significant role in anaerobic degrading of biomass in the cow rumen and fungal enzymes appear to have higher specific activities towards plant cell wall polymers than bacterial biomass-degrading enzymes. To identify and catalog the biomass-degrading enzymes that are produced by fungi and other eukaryotes that colonize and degrade switchgrass during rumen-incubation, my group teamed up with several researchers from PNNL, the DOE Joint Genome Institute and other institutes to generate an expression profile of eukaryotic rumen microbes. The catalogue of biomass-degrading enzymes that will result from this project will represent a valuable resource for scientists developing more efficient processes for the production of cellulosic biofuels. Here we propose to optimize protocols for RNA extraction and generation of cDNA libraries to facilitate subsequent expression profiling of the biomass-degrading rumen microbiome. This will allow us and other researchers - interested in the microbial community of the cow rumen and the associated biomass degrading enzymes – to generate the high-quality RNA which is essential for metatranscriptomics.

Project Details

Start Date
2014-01-23
End Date
2014-09-30
Status
Closed

Team

Principal Investigator

Matthias Hess
Institution
University of California, Davis

Co-Investigator(s)

Hailan Piao
Institution
Washington State University Tri-Cities