University of Wisconsin researchers reveal ways some microbes tear up cellulose

In Wisconsin, a new analysis of a group of bacteria called Streptomyces reveals the way some strains of the microbe developed advanced abilities to tear up cellulose, and points out more efficient ways we might mimic those abilities to make fuel from otherwise unusable plant material.

Streptomyces were long thought to be prominent contributors at work in breaking down cellulose, and to be equally active in the cause across hundreds or thousands of strains of the bacteria.

UW-Madison researchers measured the relative abilities of more than 200 types of Streptomyces bacteria by growing them on simple sugar and on a good source of cellulose: filter paper (which is made of dead trees).

They were able to collect the genomes of more than 120 of those strains, and identify the genes—and the ways key genes were expressed—that set strong cellulose degraders apart from poor ones.

The successful Streptomyces strains—which were typically those found living in communities with insects—ramp up production of certain enzymes, the proteins that do the cleaving and dissolving and picking apart of cellulose.