Tracking dynamics of plant biomass composting by changes in substrate structure, microbial community, and enzyme activity.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Understanding the dynamics of the microbial communities that, along with their secreted enzymes, are involved in the natural process of biomass composting may hold the key to breaking the major bottleneck in biomass-to-biofuels conversion technology, which is the still-costly deconstruction of polymeric biomass carbohydrates to fermentable sugars.However, the complexity of both the structure of plant biomass and its counterpart microbial degradation communities makes it difficult to investigate the composting process.

Results

In this study, a composter was set up with a mix of yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) wood-chips and mown lawn grass clippings (85:15 in dry-weight) and used as a model system. The microbial rDNA abundance data obtained from analyzing w

SUBMITTER: Wei H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3384452 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature