Investigation of the microbial metabolism of carbon dioxide and hydrogen in the kangaroo foregut by stable isotope probing.

ABSTRACT: Kangaroos ferment forage material in an enlarged forestomach analogous to the rumen, but in contrast to ruminants, they produce little or no methane. The objective of this study was to identify the dominant organisms and pathways involved in hydrogenotrophy in the kangaroo forestomach, with the broader aim of understanding how these processes are able to predominate over methanogenesis. Stable isotope analysis of fermentation end products and RNA stable isotope probing (RNA-SIP) were used to investigate the organisms and biochemical pathways involved in the metabolism of hydrogen and carbon dioxide in the kangaroo forestomach. Our results clearly demonstrate that the activity of bacterial reductive acetogens is a key factor in the reduced methane output of kangaroos. In in vitro fermentati

SUBMITTER: Godwin S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4139718 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature