Yeast is rising as a biofuel booster

Cosmic Log by MSNBC

Alan Boyle writes:Researchers say they've used genetic engineering to create a strain of yeast that can cut the time needed to make ethanol from cellulosic sources in half. It's the latest twist in efforts to fine-tune microbes for "frankenfuel" production.

Like Frankenstein's monster, these ethanol-producing organisms draw upon genetic combinations not found in nature. The scientists reporting their results today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences started out with common brewer's yeast, then adapted a few tricks used by a different strain of yeast as well as a cellulose-loving fungus.

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