Learning from the locals: A metagenomic investigation into the plant biomass degrading capacity in Norwegian native herbivores.

Understanding the enzymology of plant biomass conversion is a key Issue In the world's desire to establish a sustainable bio-based economy. Currently available enzyme technology is insufficiently effective, and several fundamental key questions to how enz ymes and plant cell walls interact remain. The present project addresses these issues by studying a natural biomass-converting ecosystem adapted to the local biomass,namely the microbial community (microbiome) resident in the digestive tract of Svalbard r eindeer. The project aims to generate a metagenomic reconstruction of microbial community structure and its metabolism using a combination of deep 454 sequencing technology as well as functional and sequence-based screens. It will specifically target reco vering genetic determinants encoding genes underpinning the deconstruction of plant structural polysaccharides. Relevant genes identified from the metagenome using bioinformatic and functional screens, will be cloned, overexpressed,and their gene products characterised in detail. In addition to creating fundamental insight into the microbial ecology and enzymology of plant biomass conversion, insight into the reindeer microbiome may also contribute to a better understanding of the health and well-being of this important Norwegian animal. This project links the most prominent Norwegian research group on biomass enzymology (Prof. Vincent Eljsink, UMB) to one of the most prominent research groups in gut metagenomics (Prof. Morrison, CSIRO, Australia) and to a truly international network of highly relevant contacts and collaborations. The project complements existing activities in the host laboratory on polysaccharide converting enzymes and complements ongoing international efforts in herbivore microbiome met agenomics by focusing on a Norwegian niche species