Fungal co-cultures in the lignocellulosic biorefinery context: A review

摘要

Lowering the price of enzymes is one of the key challenges to stablish the full potential of lignocellulosic biorefineries. Lignocellulolytic enzymes are used to deconstruct the complex plant cell wall, releasing fermentable sugars that can be further used in the production of lignocellulosic ethanol. Countries like Brazil, India, and China are already blending or considering blending ethanol in different proportions to gasoline, to be used in combustion engines. Fungal co-cultures are an alternative way of producing lignocellulolytic enzymes. In this review, we discuss the use of fungal co-cultures as an alternative for the on-site production of lignocellulolytic enzymes. The basic concepts and applications of fungal co-cultures are presented, covering most used strains, systems, advances achieved and challenges ahead. Co-cultures are an alternative technique to produce carbohydrate -active enzymes, and several studies highlighted here demonstrate their potential to contribute to the expansion of lignocellulosic biorefineries. However, there are still several aspects of fungal co-cultures that are not understood and need to be addressed to enable fungal co-cultures for commercial enzyme production. The necessity for more detailed studies, especially regarding the molecular interactions between participant fungi, are stressed in the article.