Discovery of potential pathways for biological conversion of poplar wood into lipids by co-fermentation of Rhodococci strains.

This work demonstrated a potential strategy for efficient bioconversion of both lignin and glucose into lipids by co-culture of multiple natural and engineered Rhodococcus strains. In addition, the involvement of PAA pathway in lignin degradation can help to further improve lignin utilization, and the combinatory proteomics and bioinformatics strategies used in this study can also be applied into other systems to reveal the metabolic and regulatory pathways for balanced cellular metabolism and to select genetic targets for efficient conversion of both lignin and carbohydrates into biofuels.