Termites are known to be efficient converters of wood cellulose into fermentable sugars. This first step is the same as in the production of ethanol from cellulosic biomass (cellulose must first be converted to sugars before the ethanol fermentation step). Termites can reportedly achieve a 95% “wood-to-sugar” bioconversion efficiency (within 24 hours), utilizing the biochemical machineries of microbial communities living in their hind guts. A collaborative scientific team (from the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Diversa and California Institute of Technology) is using “metagenomics” to sequence and analyze functional genes of microbial communities living in the termite gut. This would lead to the discovery or development of new enzymes or microorganisms that would be useful for the production of cellulose ethanol. The Joint Genome Institute researchers have already identified a novel cellulase (an enzyme which breaks down cellulose into the sugar, glucose)..