Anaerobic Cellulolytic Microbial Communities from Various Sources of Inocula Under Various Culture Conditions

To date studies focusing on microbial cellulose hydrolysis have focused on pure cultures such as Clostridium themocellum, or isolated environmental cellulolytic strains. Microbial communities fed with crystalline cellulose were cultivated in continuous culture, and optimal growth conditions and culture approaches have been investigated Inocula from different environments were tested to determine microbial cellulose hydrolysis and growth, as well as the effect of temperature and media composition. Differences in microbial hydrolysis existed not only between sources of inocula, but within inocula themselves. It was found that microbial consortia cultured from direct environmental inocula had more robust microbial activity than enriched inocula. Cultures grown at 60℃ showed higher biomass-specific cellulose hydrolysis, resulting in more efficient cellulose hydrolysis. This study provides evidence of differences in sources of inocula for the culture of cellulolytic consortia, and suggests culture approaches for the further study of possible applications of microbial consortia in bioprocessing technology.