March 9, 2023
There are three main ingredients to tackle when it comes to breaking down a plant for energy: Cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, cumulatively called lignocellulose, are the primary components of hardy cell walls. It’s the cellulose and hemicellulose that eventually yield fuels, and removing lignin in order to do so is a resource-intensive process. Now, a new study shows how anaerobic fungi — the kind living in the stomachs of livestock — are actually capable of naturally modifying lignin.