A cocktail of enzymes from the guts of termites may be better at getting around the barriers that inhibit biofuel production from woody biomass. The findings, published in the early online version of the journal PLoS One, are 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. “For the most part, people have overlooked the host termite as a source of enzymes that could be used in the production of biofuels. For a long time it was thought that the symbionts were solely responsible for digestion,” says Mike Scharf, a professor of molecular physiology and urban entomology at Purdue University.
