ScienceDaily (July 11, 2008) — Microorganisms once reigned supreme on the Earth, thriving by filling every nook and cranny of the environment billions of years before humans first arrived on the scene. Now, this ability of microorganisms to grow from an almost infinite variety of food sources may play a significant role in bailing out society from its current energy crisis, according to the Biodesign Institute's Bruce Rittmann, Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown, and Rolf Halden.

Fungus Could Be New Source of Renewable DieselScientists have discovered a novel fungus,Gliocladeum roseum, in the Patagonian rainforest that produces rich, diesel-like gases as part of its metabolic processes. The fungus lives in the bark of the Ulmo tree. A team led by Professor Gary Strobel of Montana State University discovered the fungus by accident while testing other fungi native to the bark of the Ulmo tree. When a batch of fungi was exposed to a set of virulent anti-biotics,G. roseumnot only survived but began to produce its own antibiotics and long chains of hydrocarbons, which form the building blocks of diesel and other fossil fuels. The fungi naturally produces such chains in the wild but, when cultured in the lab, showed the capacity to make hydrocarbon chains that were already extremely similar to those found in the typical batch of diesel fuel without requiring treatment.
However, the most impressive and potentially the most important capability of theG. roseumfungus is its capacity to produce this “myco-diesel” from a variety of feedstocks. In particular, Dr. Strobel has high hopes for its capacity to produce myco-diesel directly from cellulose. In current commercial techniques, cellulosic material needs to be treated with enzymes to break down into its component sugars, which can then be fermented into ethanol using various microbes. “When crops are used to make biofuel they have to be processed before they can be turned into useful compounds by microbes,” said Professor Strobel. “G. roseumcan make myco-diesel directly from cellulose, the main compound found in plants and paper. This means if the fungus was used to make fuel, a step in the production process could be skipped.” A number of private and university labs have already expressed interest in the material, and a joint MSU/Yale team has begun work breaking down the genome ofG. roseumto identify key genes in the production process. “The broader question is, what is responsible for the production of these compounds,” Scott Strobel, Gary Strobel’s son and head of the Yale team, said. “If you can identify that, you can hopefully scale it up so you end up with better efficiency of production.” The hope is that the fungus can be cultivated commercially as a large-scale source of clean biofuel.
In addition to its obvious climatic and commercial ramifications,G. roseumchallenges the traditional scientific notion of the source of fossil fuels. It has long been assumed that decaying organic matter, heated and compressed for thousands of years, creates hydrocarbon-based fuel such as petroleum and natural gas. However, the ability ofG. roseumto immediately synthesize hycrocarbon fuel challenges this “sole source” theory. Gary Strobel speculates, “If fungi like this are producing myco-diesel all over the rainforest, they may have contributed to the formation of fossil fuels.”
Sources:http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=15544&channel=0&title=Fungal+diesel+could+be+new+fuel+source
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/nov2008/2008-11-04-02.asp
http://www.geek.com/articles/news/latest-biofuel-discovery-is-a-tree-fungus-2008115/