De novo transcriptome assembly of the bamboo snout beetle Cyrtotrachelus buqueti reveals ability to degrade lignocellulose of bamboo feedstock

Background The bamboo weevil Cyrtotrachelus buqueti, which is considered a pest species, damages bamboo shoots via its piercing–sucking mode of feeding. C. buqueti is well known for its ability to transform bamboo shoot biomass into nutrients and energy for growth, development and reproduction with high specificity and efficacy of bioconversion. Woody bamboo is a perennial grass that is a potential feedstock for lignocellulosic biomass because of its high growth rate and lignocellulose content. To verify our hypothesis that C. buqueti efficiently degrades bamboo lignocellulose, we assessed the bamboo lignocellulose-degrading ability of this insect through RNA sequencing for identifying a potential route for utilisation of bamboo biomass.