Anaerobic lignocellulolytic microbial consortium derived from termite gut: enrichment, lignocellulose degradation and community dynamics

Background Lignocellulose is the most abundant renewable carbon resource that can be used for biofuels and commodity chemicalsproduction. The ability of complex microbial communities present in natural environments that are specialized in biomass deconstruction can be exploited to develop lignocellulose bioconversionprocesses. Termites are among the most abundant insects on earth and play an important role in lignocellulose decomposition. Although their digestive microbiomeis recognized as a potential reservoir of microorganisms producing lignocellulolytic enzymes, the potential to enrich and maintain the lignocellulolytic activity of microbial consortia derived from termite gut useful for lignocellulose biorefineryhas not been assessed. Here, we assessed the possibility of enriching a microbial consortiumfrom termite gut and maintaining its lignocellulose degradation ability in controlled anaerobic bioreactors.