The Trouble with Gribbles

[KenB]

I heard on the news today about the marine gribble, which might be the answer to cost effective production of cellulosic alcohol.

http://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2009/gribbles-bioenergy/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/4361940/Gribble-could-hold-the-key-to-new-generation-of-biofuels.html

Not only does it have cellulases (cellulose digesting enzymes) in it's gut, but some species have a symbiotic relationship with a creosote tolerant bacteria  - At this rate they will be eating railway sleepers and telegraph poles too - provide you could breed them big enough  ;-) (GM Gribbles)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gribble

Geneticists want to map the genome of the gribble and synthesise the cellulases so that they can be used on commercial scale to produce alcohol from wood waste.

Some of you might remember a 42 year old Star Trek episode similarly entitled.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trouble_With_Tribbles



Ken