Money doesn’t grow on trees, you know, but reports out today suggest that diesel does.

This unlikely notion comes from a paper in the journal Microbiology by Gary Strobel at Montana State University. Strobel found a new type of fungus growing on a tree in the Patagonian rainforest, and it turns out that this fungus was farting out a load of gas – similar to the hydrocarbon molecules that make up diesel(press release).

Voila, diesel directly from trees, and a load of eye-grabbing headlines (Guardian, AFP, New Scientist, Wired).

The fungus uses cellulose, and chomps it up to release the smaller hydrocarbon molecules. If this fungus can be grown, or its active parts engineered artificially, maybe biofuel from the unwanted, woody bits of plants could become easier to make. At the moment getting any useful fuel out of these tough plant parts is hard work, and not really worth the effort.

While the trees in Patagonia aren’t going to solve our energy crisis just yet, methinks, the results are striking and could shepherd biofuel investigators in a more fruitful direction as they search for the organisms that will make our fuel in the future.

Image: Montana State University