title: Construction of a stable microbial community with high cellulose-degradation ability.
abstract: We bred a microbial community capable of degrading rice straw with high efficiency. The microbial community degraded more than 60% of rice straw within 4 days at 50 degrees C. The high stability of the community's degradation ability was demonstrated by its tolerance of being subcultured several times in medium with/without cellulosic material, being heated to 95 degrees C, and freezing at -80 degrees C. The community degraded both nonsterilized and sterilized substrate; and its degradation ability was not affected by pH changes in the medium (initial pH 5-9). PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analyses based on 16S rDNA fragments showed that the community structure remained constant after multiple subcultures extending over 2 years. DNA sequence analyses of DGGE bands indicated the coexistence of both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria in the community.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, University of Tokyo, Yayoi 1-1-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Haruta
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ishii
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Igarashi
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D002482:Cellulose / Q000378:metabolism*; D003470:Culture Media; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000032:analysis; D017753:Ecosystem; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel / Q000379:methods; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012275:Oryza / Q000378:metabolism*; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D002482:Cellulose