Salt-tolerant enzyme could quicken conversion process, NREL says

In Kentucky, gribbles can break down biomass into sugars in the harshest of environments, and are the subject of testing conducted by the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL. Limnoria quadripunctata, a species of wood borer, thrive in salt-rich, high-solids environments. The enzyme could make the conversion process quicker and cheaper if researchers are able to modify it to be more like fungal enzymes while retaining the high-solids tolerance. Gribbles tend to live in inter-tidal zones, mango groves, and rainforests, and is most active at more than six times the salinity of the sea.

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