animal and poultry
waste management research:
a progress report

Genetically Engineered Microorganisms for Utilization
of Ammonia and Other Nitrogenous Compounds from Animal Manure
The Animal and Poultry Waste Management Center

Scientists are working to develop genetically engineered, non-pathogenic microorganisms with an enhanced ability to change ammonia into amino acids or single-cell proteins. Amino acids and proteins have value as animal feed ingredients. Ammonia is produced by the microbial breakdown of urea and nitrogenous compounds in manure, and is a source of odor. The microbial strains scientists hope to develop are intended to be used in conjunction with biofiltration systems to remove ammonia from air inside swine buildings and the air leaving barns. A gene has been identified that produces an enzyme that fixes ammonia -- transforms ammonia into the amino acid arginine. The nucleotide sequence of this gene, which came from a pig's liver, has been determined. Scientists now plan to combine a portion of the gene with a yeast gene that also fixes ammonia. They will then attempt to put the new combined gene, or genetic construct, into a bacterium. It is hoped that this new transgenic bacterium can be used as a "scrubber" to remove ammonia from the air of swine buildings. Transgenic bacteria might be placed on a membrane through which air would flow. As air flowed through or across the membrane, the ammonia-fixing bacteria would turn ammonia into arginine, which could then be harvested from the membrane for use as an animal-feed ingredient.

Funding: $70,192
Source: North Carolina Agricultural Research Service and USDA
Project Began: January 1996
Status: Ongoing

Principal Investigators: Dr. Evan E. Jones, professor, Animal Science and Biochemistry, North Carolina State University, phone: (919) 515-4045, fax: (919) 515-7780, email: SWEDE_JONES@NCSU.EDU; Dr. Jeanne B. Koger, research associate, Animal Science, North Carolina State University, phone: (919) 515-4046, fax (919) 515-7780, email: JEANNE_KOGER@NCSU.EDU

Collaborators: Dr. Jerome J. Perry, professor, Microbiology, North Carolina State University; Dr. Jim D. Garlich, professor, Poultry Science, North Carolina State University