Sex Fuel

When we mention sex fuel, we are not talking about Viagra, but about the production of bioethanol instead. Fermented glucose makes up ethanol, but in order to get that glucose in large and timely quantities, we require the sexual services of a little guy called Trichoderma reesei, a fungus.

T. reesei, as it is also known, is an cellulolytic filamentous fungus with great glucose production capacities. Since it is able to secrete important amounts of cellulases and hemi cellulases, ongoing research is aiming at having this fungus produce low cost enzymes in order to transform useless plant biomass into industrially useful bio fuels, such as bioethanol.

The use of fungi to produce ethanol is a very common procedure in the chemical and fuels industry. However, most fungi reproduce asexually, meaning that the process takes a very long time, making the ethanol more costly and less profitable. Fungus T. reesei, on the other hand, can reproduce sexually, allowing chemists to control the rate of reproduction to boost the production of bioethanol.

T. reesei was first extracted over half a century ago from molding soldier uniforms. For decades, the prevailing belief was the this fungus only reproduced itself in an asexual manner. But, a research team from Vienna, Austria, published a report on an industry periodical, claiming that they were able to reproduce T. Reesei by sexual means.

Sex is by far a superior way of reproduction, since it genetically corrects slight mutations and also disperses genetic variation across a population. Moreover, sexual mixing will allow the T. ressei fungus to increase the production of glucose to the benefit of the industry of bio-fuels. In short, the sexual reproduction abilities of T. ressei will provide very good opportunities for better chemical synthesis and improved bioethanol production.

Sex usually complicates things, but in this case, the honeymoon between the Bio fuels industry ant the T. ressei fungus promises very good things ahead.