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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Ithaca, New York » Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture & Health » Plant, Soil and Nutrition Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #154003
Title: THE NORTH AMERICAN CONSORTIUM FOR GENOMICS OF FIBROLYTIC RUMINAL BACTERIA

Author
item MORRISON, MARK - OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
item NELSON, KAREN - INST FOR GENOMIC RES
item CANN, I - INST FOR GENOMIC RES
item DAUGHERTY, SEAN - INST FOR GENOMIC RES
item FORSBERG, CECIL - UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH
item HANCE, IONA - INST FOR GENOMIC RES
item WHITE, RODERICK - UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
item NELSON, WILLIAM - INST FOR GENOMIC RES
item Russell, James
item WHITE, BRYAN - UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
item WILSON, DAVID - CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: MIE Bioforum
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/20/2003
Publication Date: 11/10/2003
Citation: MORRISON, M., NELSON, K.E., CANN, I.K., DAUGHERTY, S., FORSBERG, C.W., HANCE, I., WHITE, R.M., NELSON, W., RUSSELL, J.B., WHITE, B.A., WILSON, D.B. THE NORTH AMERICAN CONSORTIUM FOR GENOMICS OF FIBROLYTIC RUMINAL BACTERIA. MIE BIOFORUM. 2003. P. 21.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The degradation of plant structural polysaccharides (fiber) must be improved if there is to be a more effective and profitable use of crop residues and other fibrous materials for the production of biofuels, meat, milk, and draught animal power. The North American consortium was created in 2000 from funding provided by the United States Department of Agriculture and combines the talents of scientists with interests in ruminal microbiology, microbial genomics and cellulase biochemistry. The long-term goals of our consortium are to elucidate the genetics and molecular biology underpinning fiber degradation by ruminal bacteria. The bacteria selected by our consortium for genome sequencing (Fibrobacter succinogenes, Ruminococcus albus and Prevotella ruminicola)not only have a dominant role in ruminal fiber degradation, but also possess features that are of fundamental scientific interest. The genomes of all three bacteria either have or will be sequenced to closure in the near future. Additionally, consortium members have used either suppressive subtractive hybridization (SSH) and (or) representational difference analysis (RDA) to examine genomic differences between the sequenced genomes and related strains/species. Even at these early stages, a wealth of novel and fundamental information relevant to our understanding of cellulases and cellulolytic bacteria has been produced. Indeed, identifying ways to bring the genome sequences of cellulolytic bacteria "to life" is a critical next step, because the benefits from such studies can have global implications for all industrial and agricultural applications of cellulases and cellulolytic bacteria.