Characterisation of the African elephant (Loxodonta africana) gut microbiome for bio-energy applications

Abstract

In summary, this is the first study that has characterised the African elephant gastrointestinal microbiota with the specific aim of evaluating its potential application for the simultaneous degradation of lignocellulose and production of biogas. The results obtained show that these large hindgut fermenters and their gastrointestinal microbiomes have adapted to extracting energy from food that offers little nutritional value. This diet has provided the microbiome with the capacity for cellulose and hemicellulose digestion, two out of the three components of lignocellulose. However, in the current dataset we were unable to identify enzymes capable of lignin digestion. This does not conclusively exclude the ability of the gastrointestinal microbiome to degrade native lignocellulose and points out that further experimentation is required to determine the true capacity of this microbial community to degrade all the components of lignocellulose. The metagenomic results revealed complete metabolic pathways to facilitate each phase of anaerobic digestion. Thus, indicating a community with the metabolic capacity to degrade at least some lignocellulose components and to facilitate the production of biogas.