High-throughput screening of acetogenic strains for growth and metabolite profiles on readily available biomass.

Abundant biomass, including industrial waste streams and second-generation (2G) and third-generation (3G) feedstocks, offers significant potential for sustainable bioconversion, nevertheless challenges such as fermentation inhibitors, CO losses and substrate selectivity of traditional microbial hosts hinder process efficiency. In this study, we address these challenges by exploring acetogenic bacteria as alternative microbial hosts. Using a newly established high-throughput method, acetogens were evaluated for their capacity to hydrolyse and metabolise variety of substrates derived from 2G and 3G feedstocks and industrial waste streams.