Research progress on the genus Cellulomonas

Abstract:

The members of the genus Cellulomonas exhibit distinct advantages in degradation of cellulose owing to their producing varieties of cellulases. In 1923, Bergey established the genus Cellulomonas with Cellulomonas flavigena as the type species. Later, the family Cellulomonadaceae was proposed by Stackebrand and Prauser with Cellulomonas as the type genus in 1991. Up to date, there are 26 validly described species in this genus, which were isolated from different environments. The typical taxonomic characteristics of the genus Celluomonas included:possessing Orn and Glu/Asp as the peptidoglycan components in the cell wall; MK-9(H₄) as the predominant methylquinone; anteiso-C_15:0 and C_16:0 as the main fatty acids and diphosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylinositol mannoside as the main polar lipids. The G+C content of genomic DNA is 68.5-76.0 mol%. Recently, the taxonomic status of two newly isolated strains of the genus Celluomonas was determined by the means of polyphasic taxonomy in our laboratory. In this review, we summarized the establishment and taxonomic characteristics of the genus of Celluomonas. As well, the application prospects of the Celluomonas spp. in environmental protection and enzyme resources were reviewed.