http://environment.newscientist.com/channe...line-news_rss20

'A fungus that can convert plant waste directly into diesel could allow us to generate biofuel without sacrificing food production.

The fungus was discovered in leaves of the ulmo tree (Eucryphia cordifolia) which grows in Patagonia. It makes the diesel as a vapour, much easier than liquid fuel to extract, purify and store.

“There’s no other known organism on the planet that does this,” says Gary Strobel of Montana State University in Bozeman, US, who discovered the fungus. “I would guess the gas mixture itself would be adequate to run an engine.”

Strobel identified the diesel vapours in Gliocladium roseum, an endophyte – a fungus that lives in between plant cells. He established that the fungus produces the vapours to kill off other fungi.

Analysis of the vapour showed it to be rich in hydrocarbons found in diesel, such as octane. Additionally, he identified low-molecular-weight alcohols and esters that together burn much more cleanly and efficiently than ordinary diesel. The high content of pure hydrocarbons means that it burns better than bioethanol produced from sugar cane, for example, which contains oxygen atoms and so stores less energy than hydrocarbons.' [...]