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News From the Field

How stick insects handle indigestive food


March 10, 2016

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Plant cell walls are comprised of many complex polymers that require multiple different enzymes to fully break down, such as cellulase to digest cellulose and xylanase to digest xylan. For decades, scientists thought only microbes could produce cellulase, until cellulase genes were found in wood-feeding insects.Full Story

Source
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology

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