While T. saccharolyticum cannot be considered as a strict CBP candidate since it is noncellulolytic, it does have important properties that give it some warranted atten­tion potentially as a member of a CBP consortium. It is an anaerobic thermophilic bacterium but unlike C. thermocellum, T. saccharolyticum can ferment xylan and all other biomass-derived sugars making the engineering of this organism somewhat less complicated in that regard. Furthermore, high frequency gene transfer has been achieved in this organism [28, 29] increasing the capacity for strain engineering. Importantly, the catabolic pathways have been mapped out with key metabolic enzymes identified [30] providing the necessary knowledge base to address the relevant metabolic pathways. In fact, highly effective metabolic engineering has been performed on T. saccharolyticum allowing it to produce ethanol with a maximum titer of 37 g/L, which while greatly lower than many ethanologens, is the highest reported for a thermophilic anaerobe [31]. While the use of this organism alone is unlikely to achieve the endpoints required for a robust CBP host, we feel that given its great promise as a biocatalyst for the conversion of hemicellulose, it is an organism worthy of future research endeavors.