Abstract
Degradation of rice straw by cooperative microbial activities is at present the most attractive alternative to fuels and provides a basis for biomass conversion. The use of microbial consortia in the biodegradation of lignocelluloses could reduce problems such as incomplete synergistic enzymes, end-product inhibition, and so on. In this study, a cellulolytic microbial consortium was enriched from the hindgut of Holotrichia parallela larvae via continuous subcultivation (20 subcultures in total) under static conditions. The degradation ratio for rice straw was about 83.1% after three days of cultivation, indicating its strong cellulolytic activity. The diversity analysis results showed that the bacterial diversity and richness decreased during the consortium enrichment process, and the consortium enrichment process could lead to a significant enrichment of phyla Proteobacteria and Spirochaetes, classes Clostridia, Epsilonproteobacteria, and Betaproteobacteria, and genera Arcobacter, Treponema, Comamonas, and Clostridium. Some of these are well known as typical cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic microorganisms. Our results revealed that the microbial consortium identified herein is a potential candidate for use in the degradation of waste lignocellulosic biomass and further highlights the hindgut of the larvae as a reservoir of extensive and specific cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic microbes.
Highlights
Nowadays, an energy crisis and environmental pollution are global concerns
After 20 subcultures, the stillconsortium showed stable cellulolytic activity, and the filter paper was mostly decomposed after incubation still showed stable cellulolytic activity, and the filter paper was mostly decomposed after forincubation three daysfor
We found that Bacteroidetes abundance in group the 0th (T0) was significantly higher higher than those of the the 10th (T10) and T20 groups (p < 0.05); the abundance of Proteobacteria than those of the T10 and T20 groups (p < 0.05); the abundance of Proteobacteria obviously obviously increased during the consortium enrichment process (p < 0.05, Table S1)
Summary
An energy crisis and environmental pollution are global concerns. For the sustainable production of fuel, the development of renewable biological resources, which are considered economic and environmentally sound alternatives to finite fossil fuels is imperative [1]. Lignocellulosic biomass (such as that of rice straw, cotton straw, corn stover, etc.) is the most abundant and renewable source on Earth, and use of lignocellulosic biomass as a renewable source of energy and fuels is of great interest [2,3]. Rice straw is one of the most abundant lignocellulosic waste materials in the world; it is an attractive lignocellulosic material for the production of bioethanol. Because of the heterogeneous complex of carbohydrate polymers in rice straw, challenges related to pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis have prevented its widespread conversion to biofuel. Previous studies have shown that lignocellulosic materials (such as rice straw) are efficiently degraded through the cooperative activities of many microorganisms [3,4]; this has several advantages over monocultures (pure cultures), including better adaptation to changing conditions, enhanced substrate utilization, and higher cellulolytic activity [5]
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