One-step production of biocommodities from lignocellulosic biomass by recombinant cellulolytic Bacillus subtilis: Opportunities and challenges

One-step consolidated bioprocessing that integrates cellulase production, cellulose hydrolysis, and product fermentation into a single step for decreasing costly cellulase use, increasing volumetric productivity, and reducing capital investment is widely accepted for low-cost production of biofuels or other value-added biochemicals. Considering the narrow margins between biomass and low-value biocommodities, good physiological performance of industrial microbes is crucial for economically viable production. Bacillus subtilis, the best-characterized Gram-positive microorganism, is a major industrial microorganism with numerous valuable features such as hexose and pentose utilization, low-nutrient needs, fast growth rate, high protein secretion capacity, industrial safety, etc. As compared with other potential consolidated bioprocessing microorganisms such as Clostridium spp., Escherichia coli, and the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, recombinant cellulolytic B. subtilis strains would be a potential platform for biocommodity production from nonfood biomass. Here, we review the advances in recombinant cellulolytic B. subtilis development and metabolic engineering for biocommodity production, and discuss the opportunities and challenges of cellulolytic B. subtilis for biocommodity production.