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.’

The scientists at York are now studying the enzymes to establish how they work and whether they can be adapted to industrial applications. Perhaps one day soon seafarers will be sailing the seas on ships powered with biofuels produced with gribble enzymes.

Duncan Eggar, BBSRC Bioenergy Champion, said: ’The world needs to quickly reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and sustainably produced bioenergy offers the potential to rapidly introduce liquid transport fuels into our current energy mix.’

The BBSRC Sustainable Bioenergy Centre is a £26m research investment by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and has six research programmes at universities and research institutes.