Termite-microbiome symbiosis as a bioreactor model for lignocellulosic biomass pretreatment and biorefinery.

Termite-microbiome symbiosis demonstrates an efficient natural system for lignocellulose deconstruction, enabling rapid biomass conversion under mild conditions.

• Why it matters: Lignocellulosic biomass conversion faces challenges due to energy-intensive and chemically harsh pretreatment methods, limiting scalability and sustainability.
• What they did: The review synthesizes knowledge on termite-bacteria symbiosis, analyzing gut organization, microbial communities, enzymes, and interactions from a bioprocess engineering perspective, comparing it to conventional technologies.
• The result: Insights from termite systems highlight process advantages such as lower energy demand and better scalability, providing design principles for developing robust, scalable biorefinery processes.