as fluoroacetate is poisonous and present in plants endemic to australia, africa, and central america, livestock are often killed by fluoroacetate poisoning. fluoroacetate is lethal to sheep and cattle at doses of 0.25 to 0.5 mg/kg of body weight, and is a problem in the livestock industry. a fluoroacetate dehalogenase gene from the soil bacterium "moraxella" species strain b was transferred into the rumen bacterium "butyrivibrio fibrisolvens" and expressed in vitro at sufficiently high levels to detoxify fluoroacetate in the surrounding medium. scientists and farmers want to determine a way to get "b. fibrisolvens" into either the animals or plants.