Newest Biofuel: Cow Enzymes?

Since we've realized that the waste from our excessive oil usage is detrimental to the environment, and that our oil reserves are quickly fading, scientists have been trying to think of ways to use more biofuels. Who would have thought that as this article explains, we would be looking inside of a cow's stomach?

One of the main focuses in making biofuels is cellulosic plant matter. The break down of the large molecule, cellulose, would provide the energy that we would then harness and use for whatever needs we have. Making biofuel from cellulosic plant matter would be more environmentally friendly and economical because many cheap plants contain lots and lots of cellulose (i.e. switchgrass, Miscanthus, woodchips). The only problem with this method is that the methods for breaking down cellulose are extremely expensive.
Engineers have already been using enzymes from animals like termites to degrade through tough plant material. Unfortunately, the enzymes currently available efficient enough to make the cellulose-to-fuel conversion worthwhile. The director of the U.S. Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute, Eddy Rubin,and sixteen colleagues discovered nearly 30,000 new enzyme candidates by analyzing DNA collected from a cow's rumen, which is first compartment in the animal's four-section stomach. The researchers were able to identify 27,755 genes that were good enough to be candidates toward cellulosic biofuel practices. They then chose 90 of the candidate genes, expressed them to produce the enzymes they code for, and then applies the enzymes to the biofeul feedstocks Miscanthus and switchgrass. Over half of the selected 90 showed the capacity to degrade at least one of the feedstocks. Researchers feel that this suggests the original, larger pool of candidates is "highly enriched" with enzymes whose activity could be useful in biofuel production.