In an article entitled, ‘Design and characterization of synthetic fungal-bacterial consortia for direct production of isobutanol from cellulosic biomass’ published in August 19, 2013, issue of PNAS (doi:10.1073/pnas.1218447110), the lead author Jeremy J. Minty from the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, USA with seven other associates from four different institutes have developed stable consortia, or mixed cultures of fungi and bacteria that can be used to synthesize useful products such as the biofuel isobutanol from abundant and renewable cellulosic biomass. The group developed synthetic consortia consisting of two species: the fungus Trichoderma reesei, which secretes cellulase enzymes to break down lignocellulosic biomass into soluble sugars, and the bacterium Escherichia coli, which can convert soluble sugars into desired products. The researchers also built up a comprehensive mathematical model for the T. reesei / E. coli (TrEc) consortia to uncover key determinants of the system’s performance, and experimentally implemented the consortia. As a proof-of-concept, the authors showed that the TrEc consortia could directly convert pre-treated corn stalks and leaves into isobutanol without costly nutrient supplementation and with yields of up to 62% of the theoretical maximum. The consortia featured stable population equilibrium, arising from balanced sugar capture between the fungi and bacteria. The authors suggest that the efficient and stable synthetic microbial consortia could use different E. coli strains to produce a variety of biofuels and chemicals in a cost-effective manner. [summarized by Samsad Razzaque,  Research associate at Plant Biotech lab DU]