WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, CHEN WU
The microbes living in the excrement of giant pandas may help breakdown materials from grasses, wood, and crop wastes, according to scientists presenting at the 242nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
While the biofuels industry currently focuses on corn, soybeans, and other crops, the discovery of cellulose-digesting bacteria could open the door to a whole new suite of biofuels sources, such as switchgrass, corn stalks and wood chips. Such bacteria are known to exist in the digestive systems of pandas, cattle and termites, to help them breakdown their cellulose-rich diets. Now, researchers at Mississippi State University have detailed the species residing in panda feces collected over the past year from animals at the Memphis Zoo. They identified several bacteria—including some ...
