It's a (Natural) Gas
1997 was a landmark year for microbiology researchers Charles
Daniels and John Reeve, who finished sequencing the entire genome
of M. thermoautotrophicum, a methane-producing microorganism
widely studied as representative of the methanogens that inhabit
biodegradation facilities.
Reeve and Daniels and their collaborators at Genome Therapeutics
Corp, or GTC; (Waltham, MA) identified, sequenced and assembled
all 2,000 genes in the microbe's DNA. They found that about 20
percent of these genes are new to science, offering opportunities
for biotechnology products.
Methane, also known as natural gas or biogas, is generated
in the final step of waste treatment. The biodegradation of industrial,
urban and agricultural waste materials, generating methane provides
a major source of renewable energy.
Although methane recovery is a globally-used biotechnology,
the methane-producing organisms themselves are still not well
understood on the molecular level. Which explains why, in 1994,
the Department of Energy funded a $1 million dollar per year
collaboration between the Ohio State University and GTC to determine
the entire sequence of the M. thermoautotrophicum genome.
With a thorough understanding of these microorganisms, the
design of more efficient waste treatment and methane-producing
facilities should be possible, the researchers say.
Both researchers emphasize the primary goal of the study was
to accumulate the genetic information needed to enhance and to
control methane production, to help promote energy production
without contributing to global warming.
Methane is constantly being recovered at 130 different US
landfills, including the one in Franklin County, but enormous
potential still exists at nearly 700 other sites around the country. |
Coming Attractions: More Plants
in Space
We recently learned that Plant Biology
Professor Mike Evans' lab will have a plant growth experiment
aboard the NASA Space Shuttle scheduled for launch in October.
(Incidentally, the shuttle will have John Glenn aboard.) Like
Sack, Evans researches how plants respond to gravity, but works
with multi-cellular root plants. "The study of the coordination
of the gravity response in higher plant systems has more direct
application to crop plants. NASA is very interested in how such
plants might grow in space," Evans says. The experiment
is being designed by Adjunct Associate Professor Hideo Ishikawa
with primary funding from NASDA—the Japanese Space Agency.
You will read more, much more, about this later. |
