Molecules from seaweed

The latter was the goal of the UM iGEM team of 2021. With their project, MethaGone, the team used synthetic biology to find a solution to the problem of greenhouse gases, in particular methane emissions from cows. Although methane is emitted in smaller amounts worldwide than CO2, the potential to warm the planet is more than 20 times greater. So it's a serious issue that's gotten a lot of attention in recent months. In recent research, scientists have found that adding small amounts of a certain type of seaweed to cattle feed caused cows to produce about 80% less methane. However, it is difficult to grow large amounts of seaweed. Inspired by this research, the UM team designed an E. coli to have the same effect, by adding a selection of genes from the seaweed to the bacteria. These genes will give the bacteria the genetic instructions to produce certain molecules from the seaweed. These molecules are known to stop other microorganisms in the cow's rumen to produce methane.

Decreasing methane emissions

The idea here is that if this new E. coli is added to the animal feed, the methane emissions from the cows will decrease, just like when adding seaweed.

Over the course of about 8 months, the students not only designed and built the genetic instructions for the bacteria, but also raised money through crowdfunding to carry out the experiments, talked to farmers and politicians, made a documentary and a peer-reviewed iGEM journal. In addition, they designed and built a setup to simulate the rumen of a cow that will be tested in the coming months. The project was presented and defended at the (online) iGEM conference in November where it was awarded a silver medal. It is already the second year in a row that the UM team receives a silver medal in this competition.

Questions?

If you have any questions about this project, iGEM in general or if you are interested in being part of the next iGEM team, please send an email to erik.steenredeker@maastrichtuniversity.nl