A microbe that thrives inside the trunk of a tree could prove to be the future source of biofuels. It was discovered by mistake in an undisclosed location in the northern Patagonian woods. The team of researchers who came upon it and who tapped the potential of their finding have dubbed the resulting hydrocarbon complex as “myco-fuel,” a reference to the Greek term (“mukes”) for fungus or mushroom.

 

Gary Strobel, a professor of biology from Montana State University shares that, “This is the only organism that has ever been shown to produce such an important combination of fuel substances. The fungus can even make these diesel compounds from cellulose, which would make it a better source of biofuel than anything we use at the moment.” Gliocladium roseum, the faintly-red microbe that the 70-year-old Strobel says he came upon thanks to “two cases of serendipity” at the end of the '90s, was hiding in the shadow of a Muscodor albus fungus.

 

The fungus was releasing a strong antibiotic gas that normally killed everything but the tiny microbe. “Quite unexpectedly, G. roseum grew in the presence of these gases when almost all other fungi were killed. It was also making volatile antibiotics,” Strobel explained. “Then, when we examined the gas composition of G. roseum, we were totally surprised to learn that it was making a plethora of hydrocarbons and hydrocarbon derivatives.” Usually, biofuel production requires an intermediary step of providing a “food” source for the catalytic organisms (like food crops derived from the farming process).

 

In laboratory conditions, the researchers were able to feed G. Roseum on oatmeal jelly and cellulose, and to extract the gases that were rich in fuel-like hydrocarbons. But “G. roseum can make myco-diesel directly from cellulose, the main compound found in plants and paper,” claimed Strobel. “This means that if the fungus was used to make fuel a step in the production process could be skipped.”

Biofuels, like the one that the microbial organism provides, can be used for energy production and powering vehicles without increasing the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, which makes them highly superior to fossil fuels in light of the global warming issue that has been widely discussed as of late.