Methane in hibition in rumenbatch fermenters

Agricultural methane produced by archaea in the forestomach of ruminants are a key contributor to rising levels of CO2 equivalents and an increasingly volatile climate. Functionalised biological nanoparticles offer a tantalizing new concept for the reduction of enteric methane emissions without negatively affecting animal productivity. Polyhydroxybutyrate nanoparticles were functionalised in vivo with an archaeal virus lytic enzyme, PeiR, active against a range of rumen Methanobrevibacter species. In increasingly complex model systems, we demonstrate the impact of functionalised nanoparticles on methanogens and, subsequently, methane production.The data deposited here originate from a rumen batch fermenter simulation carroied out over the course of 24 hours. Samples were taken at pre-defined time intervals and subjected to 16S rRNA gene sequencing using archaeal specific primers and pyrosequencing technology.