13/11/08

Scientists find ‘biofuel-making’ fungus

G. roseum in culture Copyright: Gary Strobel

By: Paula Leighton

We encourage you to republish this article online and in print, it’s free under our creative commons attribution license, but please follow some simple guidelines:

You have to credit our authors.
You have to credit SciDev.Net — where possible include our logo with a link back to the original article.
You can simply run the first few lines of the article and then add: “Read the full article on SciDev.Net” containing a link back to the original article.
If you want to also take images published in this story you will need to confirm with the original source if you're licensed to use them.
The easiest way to get the article on your site is to embed the code below.

For more information view our media page and republishing guidelines.

The full article is available here as HTML.

Press Ctrl-C to copy

<div class="article-wrap">
<div id="article-introduction">
<h1>Scientists find ‘biofuel-making’ fungus</h1>
<h4>By: Paula Leighton</h4>
</div>
<br />
<br />

<div id="article-body">
<p><span>[SANTIAGO] A fungus found in a Patagonian rainforest could provide an alternative source of biofuel, according to new research.</span></p>
<p>The fungus, <em>Gliocladium roseum,</em> grows in the ulmo tree (<em>Eucryphia cordifolia</em>),<span> a species native to the Patagonia — the southern territories of Argentina and Chile. </span></p>
<p><span>Researchers, whose work is published in <em>Microbiology</em> this month, found that <em>G. roseum</em> possesses the metabolic machinery to produce a wide variety of hydrocarbons virtually identical to the compounds in diesel obtained from crude oil.</span></p>
<p><span>Because of this property, the volatile gases produced by the fungus have been dubbed ‘myco-diesel’. </span></p>
<p><span>"Many fungi make ethanol, but none to date produce this kind of mixture of diesel hydrocarbons," lead author Gary Strobel, professor of plant sciences and plant pathology at the US-based Montana State University (MSU), told SciDev.Net.</span></p>
<p><span>A promising aspect of this discovery is that <em>G. roseum</em> produces myco-diesel directly from cellulose-rich products, skipping the fermentation step needed to produce ethanol, he says.</span></p>
<p><span>"Cellulose is the most abundant organic substance on the planet and it mostly exists as waste material — straw, chaff, leaves, cuttings, etc.," says Strobel.</span></p>
<p><span>Considering the dramatic increase in global food prices, the paper states: "It is both timely and interesting that <em>G. roseum</em> can utilise cellulose for the production of hydrocarbons given the enormous volumes of foodstuff grains currently being utilised for alcohol (fuel) production."</span></p>
<p><span>Strobel does not know when the myco-fuel will be commercially available, since there are many steps to go through before producing the diesel on an industrial scale, including decoding the genetic makeup of <em>G. roseum</em> to identify the genes responsible for its diesel-making properties.</span></p>
<p><span>"The main value of this discovery may not be the organism itself, but the genes responsible for the production of these gases," says Strobel.</span></p>
<p><span>The scientists found that <em>G. roseum</em> makes less myco-diesel when it feeds on cellulose compared to sugars, but new developments in fermentation technology and genetic manipulation could help improve the yield, they say.</span></p>
<p><span>Researchers in government agencies and private industry have already shown interest in the fungus, and further research will be carried out along with MSU’s College of Engineering and a team from Yale University.</span></p>
<p><span><a href="http://plantsciences.montana.edu/facultyorstaff/faculty/strobel/documents/mycodiesel.pdf"><span>Link to full paper</span></a> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" height="12" width="22" alt="" data-src="http://c96267.r67.cf3.rackcdn.com/icon_pdf-transparent.png" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==" class="lazyload" style="--smush-placeholder-width: 22px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 22/12;" /><noscript><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" height="12" width="22" alt="" data-src="http://c96267.r67.cf3.rackcdn.com/icon_pdf-transparent.png" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==" class="lazyload" style="--smush-placeholder-width: 22px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 22/12;" /><noscript><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" height="12" width="22" alt="" src="http://c96267.r67.cf3.rackcdn.com/icon_pdf-transparent.png" /></noscript></noscript>[172kB]</span></p>

</div>
<div class="quick-links-wrapper">
<h3>You might also like</h3>
[related-articles]
</div>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/news/scientists-find-biofuel-making-fungus/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
<script type="text/javascript">
(function(e,t,n,r,i,s,o){e["GoogleAnalyticsObject"]=i;e[i]=e[i]||function(){(e[i].q=e[i].q||[]).push(arguments)},e[i].l=1*new Date;s=t.createElement(n),o=t.getElementsByTagName(n)[0];s.async=1;s.src=r;o.parentNode.insertBefore(s,o)})(window,document,"script","//www.google-analytics.com/ga.js","ga");var _gaq=_gaq||[];var _gaq=_gaq||[];_gaq.push(["_setAccount","UA-3223906-8"],["_trackEvent","article interaction","republished","https://www.scidev.net/global/news/scientists-find-biofuel-making-fungus/",null,true])
</script>
</div>

[SANTIAGO] A fungus found in a Patagonian rainforest could provide an alternative source of biofuel, according to new research.

The fungus, Gliocladium roseum, grows in the ulmo tree (Eucryphia cordifolia), a species native to the Patagonia — the southern territories of Argentina and Chile.

Researchers, whose work is published in Microbiology this month, found that G. roseum possesses the metabolic machinery to produce a wide variety of hydrocarbons virtually identical to the compounds in diesel obtained from crude oil.

Because of this property, the volatile gases produced by the fungus have been dubbed ‘myco-diesel’.

"Many fungi make ethanol, but none to date produce this kind of mixture of diesel hydrocarbons," lead author Gary Strobel, professor of plant sciences and plant pathology at the US-based Montana State University (MSU), told SciDev.Net.

A promising aspect of this discovery is that G. roseum produces myco-diesel directly from cellulose-rich products, skipping the fermentation step needed to produce ethanol, he says.

"Cellulose is the most abundant organic substance on the planet and it mostly exists as waste material — straw, chaff, leaves, cuttings, etc.," says Strobel.

Considering the dramatic increase in global food prices, the paper states: "It is both timely and interesting that G. roseum can utilise cellulose for the production of hydrocarbons given the enormous volumes of foodstuff grains currently being utilised for alcohol (fuel) production."

Strobel does not know when the myco-fuel will be commercially available, since there are many steps to go through before producing the diesel on an industrial scale, including decoding the genetic makeup of G. roseum to identify the genes responsible for its diesel-making properties.

"The main value of this discovery may not be the organism itself, but the genes responsible for the production of these gases," says Strobel.

The scientists found that G. roseum makes less myco-diesel when it feeds on cellulose compared to sugars, but new developments in fermentation technology and genetic manipulation could help improve the yield, they say.

Researchers in government agencies and private industry have already shown interest in the fungus, and further research will be carried out along with MSU’s College of Engineering and a team from Yale University.

Link to full paper [172kB]