Clostridium thermocellum is an anaerobic, thermophilic bacterium. C. thermocellum has garnered research interest due to its cellulolytic and ethanologenic abilities, being capable of directly converting a cellulosic substrate into ethanol. This makes it useful in converting biomass into a usable energy source. The degradation of the cellulose is carried out in the bacterium by a large extracellular cellulase system called a cellulosome, which contains nearly 20 catalytic subunits. The cellulase system of the bacterium significantly differs from fungal cellulases due to its high activity on crystalline cellulose, being able to completely solubilize crystalline sources of cellulose, such as cotton. However, there are some shortfalls in applying the organism to practical applications due to i