This is the finding of a team of researchers at University of York in the UK…
Here’s the actual Paper at Nature Communications.
Scientists suggest that it is possible that these enzymes could be adopted in industrial processes to break down cellulose into fermentable sugars for biofuel production. Professor McQueen Mason said: “These digestive LPMOs appear to have evolved from enzymes that digest a substance called chitin, which protects the respiratory system of insects. “We found that these ancestral genes are essential for metamorphosis and that interfering with their function is lethal to insects. This could have important implications for the development of new methods to control disease-carrying mosquitoes and agricultural pests such as locusts.”
