1 The metagenome of an anaerobic microbial community decomposing poplar 2 wood chips 3 4 Daniel van der Lelie1,2,3*, Safiyh Taghavi1,2,3, Sean M. McCorkle1,2, Luen-Luen Li1,2, 5 Stephanie A. Malfatti4, Denise Monteleone1,2, Bryon S. Donohoe2,5, Shi-You Ding2,5, 6 William S. Adney2,3,5, Michael E. Himmel2,5, and Susannah G. Tringe4 7 8 1 Biology Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, USA 9 2 Oak Ridge National Laboratory, BioEnergy Science Center, Oak Ridge, TN, USA 10 3Center for Agricultural and Environmental Biotechnology, RTI International, Research Triangle 11 Park, NC, USA 12 4 DOE Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA, USA 13 5 National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO, USA 14 15 16 * Correspondence should be addressed to DvdL: 17 E-mail:
[email protected]; Phone: +1-919.316.3532 18 1 1 ABSTRACT 2 This study describes the composition and metabolic potential of a lignocellulosic biomass 3 degrading community that decays poplar wood chips under anaerobic conditions. We examined 4 the community that developed on poplar biomass in a non-aerated bioreactor over the course of a 5 year, with no microbial inoculation other than the naturally occurring organisms on the woody 6 material. The composition of this community contrasts in important ways with biomass- 7 degrading communities associated with higher organisms, which have evolved over millions of 8 years into a symbiotic relationship. Both mammalian and insect hosts provide partial size 9 reduction, chemical treatments (low or high pH environments), and complex enzymatic 10 ‘secretomes’ that improve microbial access to cell wall polymers.