Insects as Sources of Novel Bioprocessing Acitvities The insects are a
large and diverse group of eukaryotes that have successfully colonised
most of the environmental niches on the Earth. In doing so, they have
evolved physical tolerances that adapt them to various extremes of
moisture availability, temperature stress, nutritional balance and so
on. It has long been assumed that these tolerances imply the existence
of a corresponding breadth of molecular pathways and capabilities that
derive either from the insects themselves, from their microbial
associates, or from a combination of both; investigations using
methodologies of functional genomics and environmental genomics are now
providing increasing evidence to support this view. As yet, these
metabolic strategies and capabilities remain both poorly understood,
and essentially untapped for human purposes. Nevertheless, there are
strong grounds for believing that in the future they will provide means
to significantly expand our capabilities in the field of bioprocessing