Identification of the Microbial Composition and Cellulolytic Genes in Goat’s Rumen Metagenome using Next-Generation Sequence Analysis

Goat’s rumen contains a rich resources of microbes for the degradation of various cellulosic biomass. These micro-organisms are responsible for  breaking down those polymers into simple sugar to be used by the host animals. In this study,  metagenome DNA was extracted from meat goat's rumen fluid. A paired-end sequencing analysis was performed followed by assembly and annotation. Based on 16S ribosomal RNA sequences, goat’s rumen is inhabited with a large number of bacterial and fungal strains.   In the annotated database, full or partial length gene sequences for  beta-exoglucanases, beta-glucosidases and cellulases were identified.  Some of the interesting genes are cloned from the same metagenome DNA extract using PCR approach, and their potential  use in the production of bioenergy industry are being investigated.