Recent advances in the exploitation and application of coculture systems for the bioconversion of lignocellulosic feedstocks

Lignocellulosic biomass is the most promising renewable carbon source for microbial biorefineries. However, the cost-effective bioconversion of lignocellulose remains a challenge due to the inherent recalcitrance of raw material, the presence of various toxic inhibitory compounds from pretreatment, the co-utilization of mixed sugars during fermentation process, etc. Single wild-type or biologically modified microorganisms are usually unsuccessful in resolving the above problems. Recently, the development of microbial consortia has gained increasing interest. The use of microbial coculture systems has shown great potential in enhancing lignocellulose bioconversion processing. This review addresses the recent advances of coculture systems used for lignocellulose bioconversion based on different scenarios, mainly including the detoxification of lignocellulosic hydrolysate, production of cellulase from lignocellulosic feedstocks, co-utilization of lignocellulosic sugars, consolidated bioprocessing of lignocellulose, and valorization of lignin. Furthermore, this review presents strategies for improving coculture system efficiency during lignocellulose bioconversion, technical challenges and future perspectives have been discussed.