Abstract
Background: Lignocellulose is considered a renewable organic material, but the industrial production of biofuel from lignocellulose is challenging because of the lack of highly active hydrolytic enzymes. The guts of herbivores contain many symbiotic microorganisms that have evolved to hydrolyze plant lignocellulose. Chinese bamboo rats mainly consume high-fiber foods, indicating that some members of the intestinal tract microbiota digest lignocellulose, providing these rats with the energy required for growth.
Results: Here, we used metagenomics to analyze the diversity and functions of the gut microbiota in Chinese bamboo rats. We identified abundant populations of lignocellulose-degrading bacteria, whose main functions involved carbohydrate, amino acid, and nucleic acid metabolism. We also found 587 carbohydrate-active enzyme genes belonging to different families, including 7 carbohydrate esterase families and 21 glycoside hydrolase families. The glycoside hydrolase 3, glycoside hydrolase 1, glycoside hydrolase 43, carbohydrate esterase 4, carbohydrate esterase 1, and carbohydrate esterase 3 families demonstrated outstanding performance.
Conclusions: The microbes and enzymes identified in our study expand the existing arsenal of proficient degraders and enzymes for lignocellulosic biofuel production. This study also describes a powerful approach for targeting gut microbes and enzymes in numerous industries.
Upon acceptance of an article by the journal, authors will be asked to transfer the copyright to Electronic Journal of Biotechnology, which is committed to maintain the electronic access to the journal and to administer a policy of fair control and ensure the widest possible dissemination of the information. The author can use the article for academic purposes, stating clearly the following: "Published in Electronic Journal of Biotechnology at DOI:10.2225/volXX-issueX-fulltext-XX".
The Copyright Transfer Agreement must be submitted as a signed scanned copy to biotec@ucv.cl. All authors must send a copy of this document.