Termite of the sea's wood destruction strategy revealed
Monday, November 10, 2014 - 15:00
in Biology & Nature
Shipworms, known as 'termites of the sea,' have vexed mariners and seagoing vessels for centuries. A recent study involving scientists from the Ocean Genome Legacy Center of New England Biolabs at Northeastern University, the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, and other institutions has focused on the shipworm Bankia setacea to learn more about the enzymes it utilizes to break down wood for nutrition, information that may prove useful for the generation of biofuels.