Category: Endangered Species/Wildlife
Published: November 5, 2008

"BOZEMAN, Montana -- A unique fungus that makes diesel compounds directly from cellulose has been discovered living in trees in the Patagonian rainforest. 'These are the first organisms that have been found that make many of the ingredients of diesel,' said Professor Gary Strobel from Montana State University. 'This is a major discovery.' The discovery may offer an alternative to fossil fuels, said Strobel, MSU professor of plant sciences and plant pathology, who travels the world looking for exotic plants that may contain beneficial microbes. The find is even bigger, he said, than his 1993 discovery of fungus that contained the anticancer drug taxol. Strobel's paper, published in the November issue of the journal 'Microbiology,' is based on his discovery of the unique properties of the Patagonian fungus, called Gliocladium roseum." Environment News Service had the story November 4, 2008.

Read it here: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/nov2008/2008-11-04-02.asp