Fig. 2

The current strategies to develop microbial consortia for lignocellulose bioconversion. A “Top-down” selection and enrichment strategy. After manipulation via primary screening, re-screening, and identification, a group of microbial consortia are developed. B–D “Bottom-up” reconstruction of co-cultures. B “bottom-up” co-cultures are constructed based on potential interactions predicted by the genomic sequencing of “top-down” enriched consortia [25]. C A combination strategy is used to develop fungal-bacterial microbial consortia, based on as many strains as possible with as few experiments as possible [40]. D A reductive-screening approach with ecological strategies is developed to acquire an effective lignocellulose-degrading minimally active microbial consortium [37]. FMG: functional metabolic groups