An Introduction of Metagenomics and Its Application in Microbial Fuel Production

Abstract

Petrolium fuels are considered as non-renewable fuels. These fuels are also responsible for increased CO₂ level in the environment due to the burning of fossil fuels. Biofuels have been considered as an alternative option that can replace the need for fossil fuels and minimize environmental pollutions. Biofuels can be produced using biomass derived from microalgae or macroalgae, bacterial biomass, and lignocellulosic biomass (plant and agricultural wastes). The use of lignocellulosic materials and evading the use of food materials for biofuel production are a viable strategy. Lignocellulosic materials are the most abundant resource on the Earth and easily available worldwide. These lignocellulosic materials can convert into simple sugars, and these sugars further are used for ethanol production. The cellulolytic enzymes can be digested using cellulosic materials into biofuels and some other value-added products. Various highly-effective techniques and pathways have been evolved, but the use of the enzymes for degradation of biological wastes has been isolated only from limited culturable microorganisms. Most of biomass-degrading microorganisms are not suitable for biofuel production at an industrial level while conventional techniques for identifying and cloning their individual enzymes are inefficient. The metagenomics methods are genomic analysis techniques of isolation of microorganisms from various environmental sources and discover novel more effective microbial enzymes for biomass degradation. This chapter focuses on the process of biofuel production, metagenomic tools for the identification of novel enzyme and metagenomic applications for biofuel production.