Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics · 2023 · Cited 2 times

Sonam Kumari, Jorge S. Leon Magdaleno, Ravneet Kaur Grewal, Manik Prabhu Narsing Rao, Abdul Rajjak Shaikh, Luigi Cavallo, Mohit Chawla, Manoj Kumar

This study uses metagenomics — sequencing all the DNA in an environmental sample — to mine pine-forest soil in Netarhat, India, for microbes that can break down plant biomass. From the soil’s collective genome it identified thousands of carbohydrate-active enzyme genes, with glycoside hydrolases most abundant, and modelled a representative enzyme that favoured cellulose. Such enzymes could lower the cost of turning biomass into biofuel.

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