Currently available enzyme technology is insufficient to economically degrade plant biomass, and presumably will remain so until we reach a comprehensive understanding of how nature solves this problem. Here we show that a microbial consortium enriched from soil establishes collaborative relationships to enable efficient hydrolysis of plant polysaccharides. Analyses of reconstructed bacterial draft genomes from all seven uncultured phylotypes in the consortium show that these microbes cooperate in both cellulose-degrading and other important metabolic processes. Experimental evidence for cellulolytic inter-species synergies came from the discovery of cellulosome structures composed of subunits from different phylotypes. Oxygen consumption by specific phylotypes enables anaerobic saccharification, whereas inferred utilization of the resulting metabolites by non-cellulolytic phylotypes negates their accumulation and associated negative effects towards cellulose degradation. These collaborative microbial actions illustrate that efficient biomass conversion in nature relies on a high level of microbial community organization.

Read the peer-reviewed publication(s):

Accessions (data generated as part of this study):

SRA: SRA065216