Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Study on Fungi Evolution Answers Questions About Ancient Coal Formation and May Help Advance Future
(Please note, NSF press release—copyright concerns are nil.)
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=124570
[font face=Serif]Press Release 12-117
[font size=5]Study on Fungi Evolution Answers Questions About Ancient Coal Formation and May Help Advance Future Biofuels Production[/font]
[font size=4]Study reveals the potentially large influences of fungi, one of the most biologically diverse classes of organisms, on our energy supplies[/font]
June 28, 2012
[font size=3]A new study--which includes the first large-scale comparison of fungi that cause rot decay--suggests that the evolution of a type of fungi known as white rot may have brought an end to a 60-million-year-long period of coal deposition known as the Carboniferous period. Coal deposits that accumulated during the Carboniferous, which ended about 300 million years ago, have historically fueled about 50 percent of U.S. electric power generation.
In addition, the study provides insights about diverse fungal enzymes that might be used in the future to help generate biofuels, which are currently among the most promising and attractive alternatives to fossil fuels for powering vehicles.
The study, which was conducted by a team of 71 researchers from 12 countries, appears in the June 29, 2012 issue of Science and was partially funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
There are almost 1.5 million fungi species on Earth. They perform essential ecological roles that include decomposing organisms and serving as food for many insect species and larger organisms.
However, only about five percent of fungi species have, thus far, been classified. The new study is part of an effort--supported by NSF's Assembling the Tree of Life and Partnerships for Enhancing Expertise in Taxonomy programs--to resolve evolutionary relationships between fungi species, define the diversity of fungi, and explain the early evolutionary history of fungi. Information produced by this effort is integral to the story of life on Earth and the evolution of its varied ecosystems.
The end of a geologic era
Coal is composed of the fossilized remains of plants--mostly lignin, which is a complex polymer that is an important component of the cell walls of plants and helps give wood its strength and rigidity. The study indicates that white rot fungi, which are the only types of microorganisms that can break down lignin, evolved at the end of the Carboniferous green period, and that the synchrony between the rise of white rot fungi and the close of the Carboniferous was no coincidence.
According to the study, once white rot, which breaks down lignin via enzymatic activity, became an ecological force, it destroyed huge accumulations of woody debris that would have otherwise escaped decay to ultimately be fossilized as coal.
So if not for the advent of white rot, large coal deposits may have continued to form long after the end of the Carboniferous period. This study supports a paper published in 1990 by Jennifer M. Robinson that pegged the evolution of white rot as a potential contributing factor to the end of the Carboniferous period.
…[/font][/font]
[font size=5]Study on Fungi Evolution Answers Questions About Ancient Coal Formation and May Help Advance Future Biofuels Production[/font]
[font size=4]Study reveals the potentially large influences of fungi, one of the most biologically diverse classes of organisms, on our energy supplies[/font]
June 28, 2012
[font size=3]A new study--which includes the first large-scale comparison of fungi that cause rot decay--suggests that the evolution of a type of fungi known as white rot may have brought an end to a 60-million-year-long period of coal deposition known as the Carboniferous period. Coal deposits that accumulated during the Carboniferous, which ended about 300 million years ago, have historically fueled about 50 percent of U.S. electric power generation.
In addition, the study provides insights about diverse fungal enzymes that might be used in the future to help generate biofuels, which are currently among the most promising and attractive alternatives to fossil fuels for powering vehicles.
The study, which was conducted by a team of 71 researchers from 12 countries, appears in the June 29, 2012 issue of Science and was partially funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
There are almost 1.5 million fungi species on Earth. They perform essential ecological roles that include decomposing organisms and serving as food for many insect species and larger organisms.
However, only about five percent of fungi species have, thus far, been classified. The new study is part of an effort--supported by NSF's Assembling the Tree of Life and Partnerships for Enhancing Expertise in Taxonomy programs--to resolve evolutionary relationships between fungi species, define the diversity of fungi, and explain the early evolutionary history of fungi. Information produced by this effort is integral to the story of life on Earth and the evolution of its varied ecosystems.
The end of a geologic era
Coal is composed of the fossilized remains of plants--mostly lignin, which is a complex polymer that is an important component of the cell walls of plants and helps give wood its strength and rigidity. The study indicates that white rot fungi, which are the only types of microorganisms that can break down lignin, evolved at the end of the Carboniferous green period, and that the synchrony between the rise of white rot fungi and the close of the Carboniferous was no coincidence.
According to the study, once white rot, which breaks down lignin via enzymatic activity, became an ecological force, it destroyed huge accumulations of woody debris that would have otherwise escaped decay to ultimately be fossilized as coal.
So if not for the advent of white rot, large coal deposits may have continued to form long after the end of the Carboniferous period. This study supports a paper published in 1990 by Jennifer M. Robinson that pegged the evolution of white rot as a potential contributing factor to the end of the Carboniferous period.
…[/font][/font]
1 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
