"Salt-based Solution for Sustainable Biofuels and Carbon Sequestration"

Researchers at the University of California – Santa Barbara have discovered that anaerobic fungi can break down tough, woody lignin in plant waste, which could be converted into biofuels and other commodity chemicals. The fungi, Neocallimastigomycetes, can extract cellulose and hemicellulose from plant biomass without the need for pre-treatment. The team tracked the progress of the fungi as they broke down the plants’ rigid cell walls and identified specific lignin bond breakages in the absence of oxygen. The next challenge is to find out exactly how the fungi break down the lignin.