[Bioconversion] Rock'n roll for Grass balls

[Jeff Davis]

On Tuesday 07 November 2006 12:51 am, Geoff Thomas wrote:
> Hi Jeff, I assume your post is to further the discussion on ball formation,
> but just an aside, if you will indulge me, my father used to grow
> mushrooms, (4 tons per week) and mushroom growers use enormous amounts of
> compost, which they mix with special machinery, -



Dear Geoff & List,

I've been thinking about your mushroom note. I wonder what kind of fuel 
mushrooms would make, schroom-balls? You mention 4 tons a week, I wonder what 
the dry weight would be.... They don't need sunlight? The are high in fiber 
and have protein. Easy to pulp! They reduce lignin and cellulose.

Interesting article below:


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http://www.livescience.com/imageoftheday/siod_051202.html
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New research could move Shiitake mushrooms out of your kitchen and into your 
gas tank.

These fungi, which some people consider a delicacy, grow on fallen logs in the 
forest. The mushrooms digest the wood and turn it into sugars that they use 
for food.

Now scientists with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service are investigating 
whether this technique could be used to produce fuel.

The researchers have discovered and copied the Shiitake gene, Xyn11A, which 
gives the mushroom the ability to produce the enzyme xylanase, which 
dissolves wood into sugar. Now that the researchers have isolated the gene, 
they are looking into whether it can be used to produce vats of the enzyme 
for digesting rice hulls or other harvest leftovers into sugars that could be 
used for making ethanol or other fuel types.

Currently, these scientists are experimenting transferring the gene into 
yeast, in which they have already produced xylanase. The next step will be to 
modify the gene so the yeast can produce greater amounts of the enzyme in 
less time. This research was published earlier this year in Protein Journal.


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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushroom
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A mushroom is an above-ground fruiting body (that is, a spore-producing 
structure) of a fungus, having a shaft and a cap. By extension, it designates 
the entire fungus producing the fruiting body of such appearance, the former 
consisting of a network (called the mycelium) of filaments or hyphae. In a 
much broader sense, mushroom is applied to any visible fungus, or especially 
the fruiting body of any fungus, with the mycelium usually being hidden under 
bark, ground, rotten wood, leaves, etc. The technical term for the 
spore-producing structure of "true" mushrooms is the basidiocarp. The term 
"toadstool" is used typically to designate a basidiocarp that is poisonous to 
eat.

The main types of mushrooms are agarics (the button mushroom, the most common 
mushroom eaten in many western countries), boletes, chanterelles, tooth 
fungi, polypores, puffballs, jelly fungi, coral fungi, bracket fungi, 
stinkhorns, and cup fungi. Mushrooms and other fungi are studied by 
mycologists. The "true" mushrooms are classified as Basidiomycota (also known 
as "club fungi"). A few mushrooms are classified by mycologists as Ascomycota 
(or "sac fungi"), the morel and truffle being good examples. Thus, the term 
mushroom is more one of common application to macroscopic fungal fruiting 
bodies than one having precise taxonomic meaning. There are approximately 
14,000 described species of mushrooms; however, there is an estimated 1.5 
million species of fungi, of which it is likely there are about 140,000 of 
species qualifying as mushrooms (Mushrooms, Cultivation, Nutritional Value, 
Medicinal Effect, and Environmental Impact by Chang and Miles, 2004)

Edible mushrooms are used extensively in cooking, in many cuisines (notably 
Chinese, European and Japanese). Though commonly thought to contain little 
nutritional value, many varieties of mushrooms are high in fiber and protein, 
and provide vitamins such as thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), 
biotin (B7), cobalamins (B12) and ascorbic acid (C), as well as minerals, 
including iron, selenium, potassium and phosphorus. However, a number of 
species of mushrooms are poisonous, and although some may resemble edible 
varieties, eating them could be fatal. Picking mushrooms in the wild is risky 
—riskier than gathering edible plants— and a practice not to be undertaken by 
amateurs. The problem is that separating edible from poisonous species 
depends upon the application of only a few easily recognizable traits. People 
who collect mushrooms for consumption are known as mycophagists, and the act 
of collecting them for such is known as mushroom hunting, or simply 
"mushrooming".

Identifying mushrooms requires a basic understanding of their macroscopic 
structure. A "typical" mushroom consists of a cap or pileus supported on a 
stem or stipe. Both can have a variety of shapes and be ornamented in various 
ways. The underside of the cap (in agarics) is fitted with gills or lamellae 
where the actual spores are produced. How the gills are attached is another 
important characteristic used in identification. In the boletes, the gills 
are replaced by small openings called pores. Bracket fungi essentially lack a 
stipe, and the cap is attached like a bracket to the substratum, usually a 
log or tree trunk. Some bracket fungi have gills, others have pores.

In general, identification to genus can be accomplished in the field using a 
local mushroom guide. Identification to species, however, requires more 
effort; one must remember that a mushroom develops from a young bud into a 
mature structure and only the latter can provide certain identification of 
the species. Examination of mature spores, or at least knowing their colour, 
is often essential. To this end, a common method used to assist in 
identification is the spore print.

[edit] Apical germ pore

Apical germ pore is a term applied to mushroom spores which have a pore at one 
end. Some spores have a hole in the cell wall where the first strand of 
germinating mycelium emerges. If the cell wall is divided from one end to the 
other, this is called a germ slit. Commonly the germ pore is at one end of 
the mushroom spore and is called an apical pore.

Mushroom genera with apical germ pores include Agrocybe, Panaeolus, Psilocybe, 
and Pholiota.



Best wishes

Jeff





-- 
Jeff Davis
Somewhere 20 miles south of Lake Erie, USA
http://www.velocity.net/~jeff0124