Pigs have trouble fully digesting a phosphorus-based compound known as phytate found in many cereal grains used to feed them. Thus, they must be given phosphorus-enriched food supplements. Both the phytate and the excess phosphorus from supplements end up concentrated in the animal’s manure. This is then used as fertilizer for various crops.  This would not be a problem except that the excess phosphorus leaches into the soil and rain washes out much of the energy-rich substance into ponds, lakes, rivers and streams. This leads to hypertrophism of the algae in these water ways, which can ultimately choke most of the life in them.

But now comes ‘Enviropig’. Thanks to transgenic technology, a favorable gene from one animal can be inserted into the DNA of another, commercially valuable animal, resulting in a hybrid  that exhibits more favorable traits (in this case a “cleaner and greener” pig breed). This has been done with goats that produce spider silk in their milk, but the enviropig is one of the first created in direct response to concerns over environmental impacts.

University of Guelph scientists have created a transgenic pig — the Enviropig — which better digests phosphorus compounds. This development came in response to concerns of negative environmental impacts from animal manure run-off causing algal blooms in waterways, and consequently killing fish and other aquatic creatures.

An estimated 50 – 75 percent of the phosphorus in livestock feed (grains, corn, soy) is in the form of phytate. Phytate is a more stable and complex phosphorus compound (produced naturally in these feed plants) and normal pigs are not able to digest it completely.  The result of this incomplete digestion is that more phosphorus ends up in the pig’s manure which is subsequently used as fertilizer. Both soil  leaching and fertilizer run-off allow much of this to enter streams, ponds and other waterways–polluting them with algal over-growth and depriving the water of oxygen (this also happens from land run-off into marine systems).*

In response to growing concerns over manure-based, fertilizer run-off creating anoxic (no oxygen) conditions in fresh water habitats, researchers at the University of Guelph, in Ontario Canada, have taken a gene from the E. coli bacterium– one that codes for the phytase enzyme that breaks down phytate — and inserted it into the genome of a breed of Yorkshire pigs. The result is la pig with a normal growth rate, but which eats less food, produces less waste, less phytate excreted in the manure (30 – 65% less) and thus less phosphorus in land run-off to pollute local waterways and resources.

Health Canada has certified that the transgenic pig does indeed digest more phytate and does not have a negative environmental impact. Currently, the University is seeking approval from Health Canada and the US FDA stating that the pig is safe for human consumption.

* This anoxic effect occurs when, as algae die, aerobic bacteria begin   decomposing the dead algal cells. This process requires oxygen, and so, excessive decomposition of algae removes most if not all of the oxygen from the water. Once this happens, fish and many other invertebrates are deprived of oxygen and die off.

diagram: enviropig – courtesy of University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada

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Photo via Steve Snodgrass Back in December we learned that green tech companies were receiving a fast track through the US patent process in order to boost innovation among start-ups and innovators. The first 3,000 applicants would sail through the process in just 12 months, as opposed to 40 months. We asked if zipping through the patent process would really move green tech forward. Turns out, it doesn't. The fast track program is already off course for filling up the 3...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Photo via orphanjones Cleveland residents are about to get an extra incentive to recycle -- if they don't, their trash bins will tattletale and they'll be slapped with a $100 fine. The city is starting a new program that features trash bins embedded with microchips. If the recycling cart isn't rolled out to the curb on a regular basis, trash collectors are prompted to go through the bins to make sure recyclables are being sorted correctly. If they're not, the residents will pay for their laziness. ...Read the full story on TreeHugger

In nature, continuous growth is key to the survival of any cellular species. But there is a price to pay for a constant rate of growth: aging. As a cell replicates (whether a single celled animal, or as part of a multi-celled one), it accumulates defects in its genome. Eventually, as these mutations build up, growth rates dwindle and the odds of cell death increase.

This has been the basic model of aging for several decades. Now, however, new studies of the venerable E. coli bacterium have revealed that– unlike all other aging models (single cells or animals) so far studied –E. coli “has a robust mechanism of growth that is decoupled from cell death.”

In a recent paper entitled ‘Robust growth of Escherichia coli’, published in the journal Current Biology, researchers discovered that E. coli bacteria are able to maintain a “steady state” growth rate despite the accumulation of genetic errors.

To achieve steady state growth, an emerging, bacterial colony undergoes exponential growth, which is maintained by the rate of elongation of each cell as it divides. This is true for cells that divide symmetrical or asymmetrically. However, this rate of elongation of bacterial cells decreases cumulatively with replicative age. Thus, it seems that a steady state population is sustained by individual cells that are not in a steady state.

To resolve this seeming paradox, researchers Wang et al of Harvard’s FAS Center for Systems Biology, analyzed 1 million E. coli bacterial cells utilizing a micro-fluidic device “designed to follow steady-state growth and division of a large number of cells at a defined reproductive age.”

They revealed the bacteria’s remarkably stable growth rate wherein each ‘mother cell’ inherited the same ‘pole’ (i.e., mitotic spindle orientation) for hundreds of generations. Researchers also found that E coli death is none-the-less predictable (non-stochastic), based on an accumulation of (genetic) damages.

The difference is that in this humble gut ‘bug’ the growth rate of each progenitor cell is stable right up to the moment of cell death.

For more information, visit the PubMed page here..

photo: USDA

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