What does the cow have to do with the global oil crisis? Well, it may help ease it.

An enzyme from a microbe that resides deep in a cow’s gut holds the key to converting corn into a cheap biofuel like ethanol, a new study has found.

The enzyme, which allows a cow to digest grasses and other plants, can be used to turn other plant fibres into simple sugars. These simple sugars can be used to produce ethanol to power cars and trucks, said Michigan State University researchers, who conducted the study.

Traditionally, only the kernel of corn plants have been used to make ethanol, but the new discovery will allow the entire corn plant to be used, so more fuel can be produced at far lower cost.

The researchers, led by Mariam Sticklen, inserted the enzyme from a bacterium in the cow’s gut into a corn plant, triggering the ethanol-making process without having to use extremely expensive synthetic chemicals.