Degradation of Sugarcane Bagasse by Cockroach Consortium Bacteria.

The development of new lignocellulosic enzyme cocktails to digest raw material for the successful production of biofuels still represents great economic and scientific challenges. The aim of this study was the characterization of an aerobic consortium derived from the gut of the cockroach Nauphoeta cinerea (NaLC) under morphological, chemical, biochemical, and genetic views. Initially, the assembly of the consortium started by dissection and incubation of hindgut of N cinerea with medium containing sugarcane bagasse (BED) as carbon source. After 1 week of cultivation, the NaLC degraded about 55% of lignocellulosic material (mainly cellulose) and also promoted a significant decreased in the BED length. The biochemical analysis of consortium supernatants showed activities against Avicel, β-glucan, xylan, and CMC. The metagenomics analysis of 16S rDNA from NaLC showed 22 bacterial genomes with a predominance of Bacteroidetes (50.6%) and Proteobacteria (47.7%) with Flavobacterium spp. and Sphingomonas spp., respectively. The shotgun metagenomic analysis revealed the presence of several CAZymes, such as cellulases, hemicellulases, carbohydrate esterases, and enzymes with auxiliary activities. During the shotgun metagenomic analysis, various CAZymes organized as polysaccharide utilization loci (PUL) from Niabela sp. bacteria in NaLC were identified. It was also observed a new locus named here as LUL (lignin utilization locus) containing many genes as oxidases, dehydrogenases, peroxidases, and others that could be involved in lignin metabolization. So, this study described under different approaches an unprecedented aerobic consortium could be a useful resource of novel genes and enzymes involved in degradation of sugarcane bagasse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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