Gribble are tiny marine invertebrates
that are able to eat wood but until now it was unknown how they were able to
break down the lignin which composes wood. A team of scientists from the
University of York studied the gut of the gribble and discovered hemocyanins. These
are a group of proteins that transport oxygen in invertebrates in a similar way
to haemoglobin in animals, but instead of binding oxygen to iron atoms and
producing blood with a red color, it binds oxygen to
copper atoms producing a blue color. These proteins are important in the ability
to extract sugars from wood and this discovery helps researchers make cheaper
and more sustainable ways of converting wood into fuel.
Researchers treated wood
with hemocyanins and found that it allowed more than double the amount of sugar
to be released which is the same as expensive and energy consuming
thermochemical pre-treatments currently used. Gribbles are the only species
with a sterile digestive system and use the oxidative capabilities of
hemocyanins to attack ligand bonds that hold wood together, making them easier
to study. This discovery allows more ecofriendly methods to be produced in
order to convert wood into biofuels which could help eliminate many harmful fuel
sources we use today such as coal and oil.
