The termite gut has recently received attention as a model system for lignocellulosic biomass degradation with potential industrial biofuel applications. Termites are known to efficiently digest lignocellulosic biomass (with preference for wood), and knowledge of how this works in the termite gut, can provide new and more efficient methods for the pretreatment step in cellulose ethanol production. Pretreatment involves the removal of lignin, and the degradation of cellulose, hemicellulose (and other carbohydrates) into (ethanol-) fermentable sugars from the biomass (this is almost similar to what happens in the termite gut). Lignocellulose digestion in termites are considered to be a contribution of (1) the host (termite) input (such as an expression of an enzyme which digests lignocellulose), and (2) the symbiont input, (presence of "highly specific microflora of symbiotic microorganisms" residing in the termite's hind gut which can also contribute a "cocktail" of lignocellulosic degradation enzymes). Recently, scientists from the Universities of Florida, Illinois, and the Kentucky (United States), took "a combined host and symbiont meta-transcriptonic approach for investigating the digestive contributions of host and symbiont in the lower termite, Reticulitermes flavipes". Their research showed many interesting results, and the "dual host-symbiont transcriptome sequencing effort" is reported to be the first ever to be conducted in a single termite species. The sequence data base provides a genome resource for the development of host-symbiont-derived biocatalysts for biofuel ethanol production applications. The complete study is published in the open access journal, Biotechnology for Biofuels (URL above)..