The metagenome of an anaerobic microbial community decomposing poplar wood chips.

ABSTRACT: This study describes the composition and metabolic potential of a lignocellulosic biomass degrading community that decays poplar wood chips under anaerobic conditions. We examined the community that developed on poplar biomass in a non-aerated bioreactor over the course of a year, with no microbial inoculation other than the naturally occurring organisms on the woody material. The composition of this community contrasts in important ways with biomass-degrading communities associated with higher organisms, which have evolved over millions of years into a symbiotic relationship. Both mammalian and insect hosts provide partial size reduction, chemical treatments (low or high pH environments), and complex enzymatic 'secretomes' that improve microbial access to cell wall polymers. We hypothesiz

SUBMITTER: van der Lelie D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3357426 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature