Marine pest could be key to biofuel

2010-03-09
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Gribble, a wood-eating marine pest that have been a cause of worry for seafarers over the centuries, could play a vital role in producing biofuel, scientists have said.

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Gribble, a wood-eating marine pest that have been a cause of worry for seafarers over the centuries, could play a vital role in producing biofuel, scientists have said.

Environmental scientists are keen to examine the crustaceans, after research funded by the Government found that unlike other animals, gribble have the ability to digest wood.

The tiny creatures produce enzymes that break down woody cellulose to energy-rich sugars, meaning it could provide new insights on how to transform wood and straw into liquid biofuel.

Study leader Professor Simon McQueen-Mason said: "This may provide clues as to how this conversion could be performed in an industrial setting."

Scientist used a genetic "fishing" technique to identify Gribble's DNA sequences and protein code. They employed "expressed sequence tags" - small end pieces of DNA - to "hook out" genes by matching some of their component chemicals.

The report, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said: "This study has revealed a combination of glycosyl hydrolase genes in Limnoria that seem likely to endow it with greater autonomous facility for lignocellulose digestion than animals such as termites.

"This may in part help to explain why these animals can survive on a diet of lignocellulose without the aid of gut microbes."

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