E. Cowli - Fighting climate change at the source

Dairy and beef production are important to our daily lives and consumption needs. However, there are serious climate change issues regarding the continual expansion of these industries. The microbiota inside the cow’s rumen releases dangerous amounts of greenhouse gases as they help digest the animal's food. Therefore, finding ways to decrease the production of greenhouse gases of dairy cows and cattle is essential in fighting global warming.

In this year’s iGEM project we fight global warming right at its source - the cows rumen. Using the powerful tools of synthetic biology we were able to reduce the methane levels through a genetically engineered E. coli.