Gribble hold key to wood biofuels

But new research by scientists at the BBSRC Sustainable Bioenergy Centre at York and Portsmouth Universities is uncovering how the tiny marine isopod digests the apparently indigestible.

By examining genes that are expressed in the guts of gribble, the researchers have demonstrated that its digestive system contains enzymes that could hold the key to converting wood and straw into liquid biofuels.

A team headed by Prof Simon McQueen-Mason and Prof Neil Bruce at York, and Dr Simon Cragg at Portsmouth has found that the gribble digestive tract is dominated by enzymes that attack the polymers that make up wood. One of the most abundant enzymes is a cellulose degrading enzyme never before seen in animals.

Unlike termites and other wood-eating animals, gribble have no helpful microbes in their digestive system. This means that they must possess all of the enzymes needed to convert wood into sugars themselves.

Prof McQueen-Mason, of the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products (CNAP) in the Department of Biology at York, said: ’This may provide clues as to how this conversion could be performed in an industrial setting.’