Analysis of the bovine rumen microbiome reveals a diversity of Sus-like polysaccharide utilization loci from the bacterial phylum Bacteroidetes.

Several unique Sus-like polysaccharide utilization loci (PULs) were identified from bacteria resident in bovine rumen microbiomes through functional screening of a fosmid library. The loci were phylogenetically assigned to the genus Prevotella within the phylum Bacteroidetes. These findings were augmented by a bioinformatic re-evaluation of ruminal Prevotella genomes, revealing additional loci not previously reported in the literature. Analysis of Bacteroidales-affiliated genomes reconstructed from a bovine rumen metagenome in a previous study further expanded the diversity of Sus-like PULs resident in this microbiome. Our findings suggest that Sus-like systems represent an important mechanism for degradation of a range of plant-derived glycans in ruminants.