Additional Participants

Senior Personnel

Angela Eash
Benjamin Bosse

Graduate Student

Yvette Luyten
Nitin Nair

Undergraduate Student

Mehwish Amin
Adam Burgoyne
Jennifer Wiley
Tim Chen

Technician, Programmer

Wendy Morrill

Other Collaborators or Contacts

Dr. Martin Polz, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering (MIT)

Project Period

March 15, 2000-February 29, 2004

Level of Access

Open-Access Report

Grant Number

9982982

Submission Date

12-2-2003

Abstract

Enormous quantities of wood and other woody plant materials
(including leaves, bark, shoots, stems and nuts) are produced annually in
the environment. In fact, cellulose, the major component of woody
materials, is thought to be the most abundant biological material on earth.
This remarkably strong and enduring molecule is a polymer of glucose
(sugar) linked by a type of chemical bond that makes it indigestible to
most living organisms. Therefore, this rich source of food energy is
available to only a few animals (e.g., termites and ruminants) that can
digest cellulose with the aid of microbes living in their guts.
Surprisingly, some marine animals can also digest wood. The most
important group is the wood-boring clams, commonly known as shipworms. Unlike termites and ruminants, these animals lack microorganisms in their gut.
Instead they harbor enormous numbers of symbiotic bacteria inside the cells
of their gills. These bacteria fall into at least four closely related
families based on DNA analyses. The PIs have proposed that these bacteria
produce cellulolytic enzymes that are transported from the gills to the
gut.

The purpose of this investigation is to explore the diversity and
distribution of symbiont types in the shipworm gills, to determine if each
symbiont type contributes different cellulolytic enzymes, and to discover
how the host uses these bacterial products to exploit cellulose as a food
source. These investigations should result in the discovery of new
cellulolytic enzymes that may have industrial applications in such areas as
paper and textile processing and fuel (ethanol) production via biomass
conversion of agricultural wastes. These efforts will also help the PIs to
understand the physiology of symbiotic bacterial infections that are
beneficial rather than harmful to their hosts.

Rights and Access Note

This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. In addition, no permission is required from the rights-holder(s) for educational uses. For other uses, you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Download

Share

 

Rights Statement

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted.