Interpretive Summary: Computational approaches for enteric methane mitigation research: from fermi calculations to artificial intelligence paradigms
By: Ratul Chowdhury, Anthony Nathan Frazier, Jacek A Koziel, Logan Thompson, Matthew R Beck
Implications:
- Enteric methane (CH4) emissions from livestock pose a significant challenge to greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets.
- Generative AI and large language models may be able to predict molecules capable of inhibiting methanogenesis within the ruminant digestive system. Subsequent refinement through molecular simulations (protein–ligand docking and molecular dynamics) at physiological rumen pH allows for targeted compound selection.
- Using a Graph Neural Network and the bovine metabolite database and milk composition database, compounds that have been experimentally shown to be anti-methanogenic can be identified using machine learning. Such biochemical representations can then be used to design new inhibitor molecules through generative AI.
- While AI offers a promising avenue for effective CH4 mitigation, its implementation necessitates substantial computational resources and emphasizes the need for optimizing AI workflows to minimize energy expenditure while maximizing the discovery of effective mitigation strategies.
Governments worldwide have made various commitments to address climate change. The first international treaty related to climate change was the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This agreement set targets to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 5% below 1990 levels and this commitment was made by 37 countries and the European Union (UNFCCC, 1997). All countries that entered this agreement met their obligations, yet global emissions increased by 30% from 1990 to 2010 (UNEP, 2012). More recently, the Paris Agreement was signed by 195 countries in December 2015. This agreement aims to reduce GHG emissions to a large enough degree that global surface temperature increase is limited to 2°C, with an ultimate goal of a 1.5°C limit compared to preindustrial levels (UNFCCC, 2016). Furthermore, the United States has made commitments to decrease methane (CH4) emissions specifically. In November 2021, the Biden–Harris administration released the “U.S. methane emissions reduction action plan”, which aims to reduce U.S. CH4 emissions by 30% of 2020 levels by 2030 (The White House, 2021). To achieve these commitments, all known major sources of GHG emissions will need to be reduced and this includes GHG emissions from agriculture, of which enteric CH4 emissions are the second largest source behind agriculture soil management (Figure 1; EPA, 2023). There are currently several promising options to mitigate enteric CH4; however, currently available strategies are not adequate to meet climate goals (Arndt et al., 2022). This means that novel methods to identify strategies to reduce enteric CH4 are needed.
Read the full article in Animal Frontiers.