Involvement of a bacterial microcompartment in the metabolism of fucose and rhamnose by Clostridium phytofermentans.

Background Clostridium phytofermentans, an anaerobic soil bacterium, can directly convert plant biomass into biofuels. The genome of C. phytofermentans contains three loci with genes encoding shell proteins of bacterial microcompartments (BMC), organelles composed entirely of proteins.