Find holds key to biofuels

A REDDISH microbe found on the inside of a tree at a secret location in the rainforests of northern Patagonia could unlock the biofuel of the future, say scientists.

Its potential is so startling that the discoverers have coined the term “myco-diesel” — a derivation of the word for fungus — to describe the bouquet of hydrocarbons that it breathes.

“This is the only organism that has ever been shown to produce such an important combination of fuel substances,” said Gary Strobel, a professor of biology at Montana State University.

The study appeared yesterday in the British Microbiology journal.

Strobel said that he came across Gliocladium roseum thanks to “two cases of serendipity”.

The first was in the late 1990s, when his team, working in Honduras, came across a previously unidentified fungus called Muscodor albus. By sheer accident, they found that M. albus releases a powerful gassy antibiotic.

Intrigued by this, the team tested M. Albus on the ulmo tree.

“Quite unexpectedly, G. roseum grew in the presence of these gases when almost all other fungi were killed,” said Strobel.

Strobel’s team put the G. roseum through its paces in the lab, growing it on a jelly and on cellulose. Extractor fans drew off the gases exuded by the fungus, and analysis showed that many of them were hydrocarbons, including at least eight compounds that are the most abundant ingredients in diesel.