Chapter 12: Systems Biology Analyses of Lignin Conversion

The efficient utilization of lignin-containing biorefinery residues for fungible products has emerged as one of most important research areas in lignocellulosic biorefining. However, lignin degradation and conversion is quite complicated due to the inherent complexity and recalcitrance of lignin. The development of effective lignin bioconversion will heavily depend on the molecular and systems level understanding of lignin degradation and conversion. We hereby aim to review recent advances in systems biology analysis of lignin-degrading microorganisms for lignin and lignocellulosic biomass (LCB) conversion. In particular, omics analysis have been broadly applied to study how microbes deconstruct and metabolize lignin, and to identify the genes, enzymes, pathways, and networks for lignin bioconversion. Potential strategies to enhance the lignin bioprocessing toward valued products have also been developed in some studies based on the molecular mechanisms of lignin bioconversion using multi-omics techniques. These systems biology techniques provided promising approaches for improving the bioconversion performance of lignin containing biorefinery residue into valuable products.