Researchers Find Termites are good for something!

Researchers at Purdue University have discovered a cocktail of enzymes from the guts of termites that effectively breakdown woody biomass into the raws materials needed to create biofuel. Their study is the first to measure the sugar output from enzymes created by the termites themselves and the output from symbionts, small protozoa that live in termite guts and aid in digestion of woody material.

Sugars from plant material are essential to creating biofuels. Those sugars are fermented to make products such as ethanol.

“We’ve found a cocktail of enzymes that create sugars from wood,” says lead researcher Mike Scharf (above). “We were also able to see for the first time that the host and the symbionts can synergistically produce these sugars.”

Posted via email from Enviromenment