Cellulosic ethanol production by natural bacterial consortia is enhanced by Pseudoxanthomonas taiwanensis

BACKGROUND: Natural bacterial consortia are considered a promising solution for one-step production of ethanol from lignocellulose because of their adaptation to a wide range of natural lignocellulosic substrates and their capacity for efficient cellulose degradation. However, their low ethanol conversion efficiency has greatly limited the development and application of natural bacterial consortia. RESULTS: In the present study, we analyzed 16 different natural bacterial consortia from a variety of habitats in China and found that the HP consortium exhibited relatively high ethanol production (2.06 g/L ethanol titer from 7 g/L α-cellulose at 55°C in 6 days). Further studies showed that Pseudoxanthomonas taiwanensis played an important role in the high ethanol productivity of HP and that this strain effectively boosted the ethanol production of various other natural bacterial consortia. Finally, we developed a new consortium, termed HPP, by optimizing the proportion of P. taiwanensis in the HP consortium to achieve the highest ethanol production reported for natural consortia. The ethanol conversion ratio reached 78%, with ethanol titers up to 2.5 g/L. CONCLUSIONS: In the present study, we found a natural bacterial consortium with outstanding ethanol production performance, and revealed an efficient method with potentially broad applicability for further improving the ethanol production of natural bacterial consortia. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13068-014-0186-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.