To make renewable biofuels, instead of manufacturing them from the sugars in food crops, researchers want to employ organisms that can make use of the hundreds of millions of tons of cellulose in sawdust, weeds and other plant scrap that would otherwise go to waste.
One especially promising organism when it comes to breaking down cellulose is the soil fungus Trichoderma reesei. It was originally discovered in the Solomon Islands during World War II eating away at the canvas and garments of the U.S. Army.
Improving this fungus was difficult because scientists thought it was asexual, which meant they couldn’t breed different useful strains of it together for offspring better tailored to degrade cellulose.
Now researchers in Austria find this fungus isn’t asexual after all. For the first time after its discovery more than 50 years ago, researchers have made it have sex.
The group this fungus belongs to, Trichoderma, includes several hundred species, including both sexual and asexual ones. By probing their DNA, investigators uncovered the genes responsible for mating and found them in Trichoderma reesei, proving it was theoretically capable of sex. However, it could not assume the female role. U.S. News & World Report
Past studies have shown that Trichoderma reesei is genetically identical to another species of fungus, Hypocrea jecorina, which it so happens is capable of sexual reproduction. The primary difference between the two organisms was that Hypocrea jecorina seemed capable of assuming both the male and female roles, whereas Trichoderma reesei seemed only capable of assuming the male role.
So scientists got a novel idea: Why not breed the male-oriented Trichoderma with a female-oriented Hypocrea? The result was a successful mating– the Trichoderma lured into having sex could now be artificially selected for their advantageous genetic traits. CleanTechnica
Sexual reproduction is often better for a biological population than asexual reproduction. Sex allows for the correcting of minor mutations and spreads genetic variation across a population. Sexual crossing in Trichoderma reesei will allow the fungus to kick up its efficiency in glucose production and therefore better serve the bio-fuels industry.
Trichoderma reesei’s sexual reproduction will also allow scientists to create stronger and more specialized strains of the fungus more easily. Sexual variation will open the door to better and better chemical synthesis using Trichoderma reesei. Who knew that sex could solve so many problems? io9
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