Mar 11 2010
Scientists at the BBSRC Sustainable Bioenergy Centre are analyzing how miniature marine gribble isopods eat and digest wood that is supposedly indigestible. These wood-eating creatures destroy docks and wooden piers in coastal regions and the wooden components aboard ships, thus becoming a seafarer’s nightmare. The scientists analyzed gribble gut genes and understood that the digestive systems of these creatures contain enzymes that are capable of indicating a solution for converting straw and wood into liquid biofuels.
According to a recently published research study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (PNAS), a research team headed by Dr. Simon Cragg from Portsmouth, New York-based Professor Simon McQueen-Mason, and Professor Neil Bruce from York explains that enzymes dominate the digestive track of gribbles. These enzymes attack polymers that constitute the wood. A cellulose-degrading enzyme, which has not been seen in animals before, is among the most prevalent enzymes seen in gribbles.
Since gribbles do not have useful microbes in their digestive systems unlike termites and other wood-consuming animals, it was concluded that they should have all the enzymes that are required to create sugars from wood within their body.
York scientists are currently analyzing the work of these enzymes and the possibility of using them for industrial applications. Hopefully, in the future, sea voyagers will use gribble enzymes to produce biofuels that would power their ships.
According to BBSRC Bioenergy Champion, Duncan Eggar, bioenergy can pave the way for more and more liquid fuels that can be used for transport and can also help reduce the world’s reliance on fossil fuels.
Source: www.bsbec.bbsrc.ac.uk