Fungal Map of Mutations Key to Increasing Enzyme Production for Bioenergy Use

In half a century, one **fungus** has gone from being the bane of the Army quartermasters’ existence in the Pacific to **industry** staple and someday, as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s mission to promote national energy security through clean, **renewable energy** development, a biofuel producers’ best friend. *Trichoderma reesei*’s makeover is due in part to scientific explorations that led to the development of **mutant** fungal strains that produce large quantities of **biomass-degrading** enzymes. Now an international team of researchers led by scientists at the DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), the French applied research center IFP - particularly concerned with **renewable resources** and energies - and the Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna) provides the first **genome-wide** look at what these mutations are in order to understand just how **cellulase** production was first improved, and how it can be boosted even further. "U.S. Department of Energy":[ http://www.jgi.doe.gov/News/news_09_09_01.html]

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