Naturally Decaying Agricultural Residues: Enriched Resources for Mining Novel Lignocellulolytic Enzymes

Agricultural residues are the principal substrates for saprophytes and hence, their rotting residues would certainly be enriched with lignocellulolytic microorganisms. In the search for novel lignocellulolytic enzymes of potential application in bioethanol production, environments such as compost, soil, rumen, manure, and gut have often been targeted. Therefore, in addition to those commonly investigated environments, the naturally enriched but poorly investigated naturally decaying agricultural residues are explored as potential sources of novel lignocellulolytic enzymes for bioethanol production. A brief overview of the metagenomics approaches recently used for the detection of novel lignocellulolytic genes is also given. Enriched but unearthed environments such as naturally rotting agricultural residues need to be considered as important resources for mining novel industrial enzymes