Montana State University researchers have found diesel fuel growing on trees in Patagonia. Well, OK, it’s the next best thing – a fungus that churns out diesel:
The Energy Roadmap blog:
A research group led by Montana State University Professor Gary Strobel has found a fungus (Gliocladium roseum) inside a Patagonia rainforest that produces hydrocarbon chains similar to diesel fuel or “myco-diesel”.
MSU.edu:
The find is even bigger, he said, than his 1993 discovery of fungus that contained the anticancer drug taxol.Strobel, who travels the world looking for exotic plants that may contain beneficial microbes, found the diesel-producing fungus in a Patagonia rainforest. Strobel visited the rainforest in 2002 and collected a variety of specimens, including the branches from an ancient family of trees known as “ulmo.” When he and his collaborators examined the branches, they found fungus growing inside. They continued to investigate and discovered that the fungus, called Gliocladium roseum, was producing gases. Further testing showed that the fungus — under limited oxygen — was producing a number of compounds normally associated with diesel fuel, which is obtained from crude oil.