Seafarers' scourge provides hope for biofuel future
They don't exactly look like the saviors of our energy economy, but that's exactly what some researchers think they could be. Gribbles -- tiny crustacean pests with a knack for digesting wood -- have long been considered a marine parasite for the destruction they cause to wooden hulls and piers. But the enzymes gribbles use in to break wood fibers down into sugars could make them the next biofuels breakthrough. Essentially, gribbles are blessed with a digestive process unparalleled (to our knowledge) by other wood-consuming insects and animals. Their digestive enzymes can break down woody cellulose and even lignin -- the normally indigestible part of woody plants -- creating sugars that are more or less ideal for fermenting into alcohol-based fuels. A biofuel factory based on the gribble's digestive biology could yield energy-dense sugars for biofuel production in an efficient manner. But of course there's a give-and-take in the equation that involves feeding woody plant materials -- like
Seafarers' scourge provides hope for biofuel future
For centuries, seafarers were plagued by wood-eating gribble that destroyed their ships, and these creatures continue to wreak damage on wooden piers and docks in coastal communities.
Mon 8 Mar 10 from PhysOrg
Seafarers' scourge provides hope for biofuel future, Tue 9 Mar 10 from Biology News
Featured - Seafarers' scourge provides hope for biofuel future, Tue 9 Mar 10 from Labspaces.net
Gribble Bites Make Cheaper Biofuel
Scientists say that a marine pest -- which resemble pink woodlice and plagued seafarers for centuries by boring through the planks of ships --.could be the key to a biofuel breakthrough.
Tue 9 Mar 10 from FOXNews
This Tiny Crustacean Menace Could Fuel the World
They don't exactly look like the saviors of our energy economy, but that's exactly what some researchers think they could be. Gribbles -- tiny crustacean pests with a knack for digesting ...
Tue 9 Mar 10 from Popular Science
Meet the Gribble, the wood munching marine pest that may hold the key to major biofuel breakthrough
Scientists have discovered that gribble, which resemble pink woodlice and have a gift for digesting wood not seen in any other animal, could hold the key to converting wood into liquid biofuel.
Mon 8 Mar 10 from Daily Mail
Potential new source for biofuel found
YORK, England, March 10 (UPI) -- British scientists say they've discovered a mechanism that might lead to a new way of converting wood and straw into liquid biofuels.
Wed 10 Mar 10 from UPI
Gribble Reveal Biofuel Clues
New research by scientists at the BBSRC Sustainable Bioenergy Centre at the Universities of York and Portsmouth is uncovering how a tiny marine isopod digests the apparently indigestible.
Tue 9 Mar 10 from Laboratory Equipment
Gribble hold key to wood biofuels
By examining the guts of gribble, UK researchers have demonstrated that its digestive system contains enzymes that could hold the key to converting wood and straw into liquid biofuels.
Tue 9 Mar 10 from The Engineer
Once a seafarers' scourge, the gribble could be biofuel hero
Tiny marine isopods called gribbles were for centuries the bane of sailors, whose vessels were quickly devoured. Even today, piers and docks are rapidly gnawed away, and researchers have now ...
Tue 9 Mar 10 from R&D Mag
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