Researchers discover fungus that eats trees, pees diesel
If you read the headline and thought, "Well, that's nothing new," you're partly right. Using microorganisms to turn plants into something you can run through your fuel injectors is otherwise known as fermentation. But the microscopic bugs used in moonshine stills and distilleries are pretty picky eaters. They like corn, wheat, rice, etc., but throw a corn stalk or a few tree branches in the mix and they just turn up their little noses.
A group of researchers now say they have found a fungus living inside the Ulmo trees of the Patagonian rain forest that happily turns any part of a plant into fuel. It's called Gliocladium roseum (that's it in the photo), and researchers at Yale University are trying to find a way to put it to work churning out gallons of diesel. They're quick to point out, though, that's a long way off.
But there's another twist in the discovery. The researchers bring up an interesting question. If this thing can turn plants into what closely resembles petrochemicals, could they possibly be responsible for part of the Earth's crude oil?
[Source: Wired Science]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
DC 1:34PM (11/09/2008)
I really hope that this will somehow help our fuel woes here in the US. Part of energy dependence could be using this new fungus to give us fuel.
I would hope they can somehow manipulate this fungus into eating waste and converting in to gasoline. If we can do that, we are set for life.
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letstakeawalk 1:56PM (11/09/2008)
I had a petrology professor who was very into abiogenic sources of oil. Another professor spent her research grants diving in the blue holes searching for undiscovered strains of bacterium that utilized alternative chemical energy sources. Neither professor was concerned that our oil supplies would ever run out, because they follow a theory that the oil is continually being created through biological processes.
It's amazing to think that we really don't know exactly how petrochemicals are formed deep within the Earth.
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Soccer Mom 2:49PM (11/09/2008)
I think the process is clear, but the answer depends on who you ask.
Sarah Palin thinks it is god who makes oil and tells people to build pipe-lines.
Skeptics of the oil peak theory know that it is melted rock or bio-processes or other natural Earth processes or simply miracle that can somehow restore all the resources to some decent levels, if you let them sit for a year or so.
The rest pretty much agree (with certain scientific argument to support their claim) that these are the left-overs of the biomass that existed a while (long while, that is) ago.
Lar 3:42PM (11/09/2008)
Let's Take a Walk-
"It's amazing to think that we really don't know exactly how petrochemicals are formed deep within the Earth."
True, that. And fascinating stuff. I had a college biology professor who said that we still don't know how plants turn sunlight into chlorophyll - that is, how they create their own food.
He said, and I agree, that if we could figure out how to make our own food from sunlight, then it would effectively solve problems of the world's food shortages.
Of course what would happen next is political logjam over who gets the rights and benefits.
letstakeawalk 12:21PM (11/10/2008)
@ Soccer Mom - No need to bring your politics into a discussion based on scientific research. I know the leading theory of fossil fuels is that they are the result of biomass being cooked in the crust of the Earth over a long time and at high temps and pressures. We find coal deposits now where we would have found ancient swamps - like Pennsylvania.
This study found a fungus in a modern rainforest. Is it impossible to believe that an ancient rainforest may have harbored a similar microorganism that was responsible for digesting the biomass and chemically converting it into a petrochemical?
If it is possible, then this may be evidence that petrochemical production may happen at a higher rate than we currently believe. There may be a time when we have to adjust our theory in order to include new discoveries...
Amien 2:00PM (11/09/2008)
Im a little sceptical about the eating trees part... lets see what becomes of this.
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BlackEmblem 2:13PM (11/09/2008)
Agreed.
Dave 7:53PM (11/09/2008)
/Paranoia on/
Yup. It sounds like a hungrier version of Dutch Elm Disease.
Or the gypsy moths that were supposed to produce silk in America.
Biological warfare on forests?
PumaGTO 2:04PM (11/09/2008)
well... Just one thing.... As far as my geography goes, Patagonia is in Southern Argentina/Chile, where is just as cold as nothern Canada. How can be any rainforest in there?
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Spule4 2:10PM (11/09/2008)
"Rainforest" is an amount of rain fall per year (around 70 inches), nothing to do with temperature. There are some in the Pacific NW and Norway for example...
This was on NPR earlier this week, the next step is to see if this is something that can result in a mass production.
s12dave 2:12PM (11/09/2008)
Look up what a rainforest is. There are rainforests in Alaska.
DC 2:06PM (11/09/2008)
If this does become something big, I say we annex Canada and take their Timber!
I kid of course, but Canada and Russia look good with the amount of unused trees they have.
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R-Yo 3:25PM (11/09/2008)
Hahaha, take some seeds and grow some trees down there. We need these trees to make our air breathable haha
Tony 8:20PM (11/09/2008)
DC @ Nov 9th 2008 2:06PM
If this does become something big, I say we annex Canada and take their Timber!
You like apples DC?
We kicked your butts in the war of 1812. We have more guns per capita than you Americans and we know how to shoot without injuring our hunting party friends. We have more friends than you and we have the oil you need.
How do you like them apples.
Just kidding
Kotse 2:11PM (11/09/2008)
Mmmmmm....mushrooms!
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Dausman 2:23PM (11/09/2008)
Last paragraph..wondering if some crude oil could be result of this or other microorganisms .....?? could this be reason we have deserts...... ?......... just a joke
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JDMlover 2:31PM (11/09/2008)
wooooow
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Smegley 2:58PM (11/09/2008)
Al Gore is pretty wooden. Let's feed him to the bugs so he can do even more to warm the globe than his lifestyle already hypocritically does.
I wonder if they can get these bugs to consume weeds. If so then we all have it made.
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Rick 4:06PM (11/09/2008)
Didn't take long for the children to come out...
tankd0g 6:59PM (11/09/2008)
I hope it can eat paper, because the way we recycle it now is pretty stupid.
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