The Methane Metabolism Bioinformatics Pipeline: – Enabling Feed Additives and Management Practices to Reduce Methane Emissions
The role of the microbiome on methane production is central in the development of the methane metabolism pipeline. The flexibility of this pipeline allows for:
- Identifying taxa, genes and enzymes influencing methane production.
- Elucidating relationships across bacteria, archaea and fungi present in the ecosystem.
- Assessing the efficacy of a supplement following a feed trial.
- Profiling the relative abundance of both species and proteins present in the rumen microbiome.
- Establishing associations between functional and taxonomic abundance, and trial metadata, using powerful statistical tools.
- Delivering custom analysis and reporting to the client.
Our pipeline pinpoints protein sequences of interest, which are used to construct a database of over 16,000 gene marker sequences in total. Shotgun metagenome analysis of the rumen or gut contents is run in parallel, so the abundance of genes of interest is quantified, and the relative abundance of each member of the microbial community is calculated. Relationships between the trial metadata and both taxonomic and functional profiles are computed, and an association analysis is performed to find relationships between taxonomic and functional abundances. Finally, tables and visualisations are produced following client specifications.