Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Developing symbiotic consortia for lignocellulosic biofuel production

Developing symbiotic consortia for lignocellulosic biofuel production The search for petroleum alternatives has motivated intense research into biological breakdown of lignocellulose to produce liquid fuels such as ethanol. Degradation of lignocellulose for biofuel production is a difficult process which is limited by, among other factors, the recalcitrance of lignocellulose and biological toxicity of the products. Consolidated bioprocessing has been suggested as an efficient and economical method of producing low value products from lignocellulose; however, it is not clear whether this would be accomplished more efficiently with a single organism or community of organisms. This review highlights examples of mixtures of microbes in the context of conceptual models for developing symbiotic consortia for biofuel production from lignocellulose. Engineering a symbiosis within consortia is a putative means of improving both process efficiency and stability relative to monoculture. Because microbes often interact and exist attached to surfaces, quorum sensing and biofilm formation are also discussed in terms of consortia development and stability. An engineered, symbiotic culture of multiple organisms may be a means of assembling a novel combination of metabolic capabilities that can efficiently produce biofuel from lignocellulose. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology Springer Journals

Developing symbiotic consortia for lignocellulosic biofuel production

Loading next page...
 
/lp/springer-journals/developing-symbiotic-consortia-for-lignocellulosic-biofuel-production-nHUphN3pdf

References (97)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by Springer-Verlag
Subject
Chemistry; Microbial Genetics and Genomics; Microbiology; Biotechnology
ISSN
0175-7598
eISSN
1432-0614
DOI
10.1007/s00253-011-3762-9
pmid
22278256
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The search for petroleum alternatives has motivated intense research into biological breakdown of lignocellulose to produce liquid fuels such as ethanol. Degradation of lignocellulose for biofuel production is a difficult process which is limited by, among other factors, the recalcitrance of lignocellulose and biological toxicity of the products. Consolidated bioprocessing has been suggested as an efficient and economical method of producing low value products from lignocellulose; however, it is not clear whether this would be accomplished more efficiently with a single organism or community of organisms. This review highlights examples of mixtures of microbes in the context of conceptual models for developing symbiotic consortia for biofuel production from lignocellulose. Engineering a symbiosis within consortia is a putative means of improving both process efficiency and stability relative to monoculture. Because microbes often interact and exist attached to surfaces, quorum sensing and biofilm formation are also discussed in terms of consortia development and stability. An engineered, symbiotic culture of multiple organisms may be a means of assembling a novel combination of metabolic capabilities that can efficiently produce biofuel from lignocellulose.

Journal

Applied Microbiology and BiotechnologySpringer Journals

Published: Jan 26, 2012

There are no references for this article.