2003 年 16 巻 1 号 p. 276-280
A cellulolytic and thermophilic anaerobe was isolated from soil. This bacterium made a halo on a roll-tube culture containing Avicel, a cellulose powder, under anaerobic culture conditions. Analysis of the PCR-based 16S rRNA gene sequence showed that the bacterium was closely related to Moorella thermoacetica. Scanning electron microscopy showed the bacterium is a rod and has no protuberant structure on the surface of cells growing on cellulose, suggesting that this strain is a non-cellulosomal cellulolytic bacterium. Thermophilic carboxymethyl cellulase and xylanase activities were detected in the culture broth of the bacterium. A major fermentation product from ball-milled cellulose was acetate. This strain has a potential to convert cellulosic biomass to acetate, directly.