An international team of scientists has provided major insights into the underlying genetics of Postia placenta, a brown-rot fungus known for its efficient break-down of cellulose, a structural component of plant cells.The results, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), are an outcome of the Biorenew project which is funded under the EU's Sixth Framework Programme (FP6). To create biofuels, plants must be broken down into sugars that can be fermented into ethanol, which can be used as a transportation fuel.However, their extraction is difficult and represents a major stumbling block for the industry. A less energy-intensive way of breaking down lignocellulose entails harnessing the destructive power of brown-rot fungus, which normally spends its time happily turning trees into pulp in forest ecosystems and costing the timber industry a fortune in replacement costs.
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