<p>Researcher from Washington State University opens the new mystery that, producing jet fuel by using fungus mostly find in soil and decaying  leaves. Researcher suggest that this research will play in production of Biofuels  in affordable costs.Scientists of WSU used species of Aspergillus to produce  “Carbonarius ITEM 5010” on of the chief component in aviation biofuel.</p><p>This is Birgitte Ahring, director and Battelle distinguished professor of the Bioproducts, Sciences and Engineering Laboratory at WSU Tri-cities, the researchers published their work in the April edition of Fungal Biology. Ahring&amp;rsquo;s group has previously been successful in using standard Aspergillus fungi to produce enzymes and other useful products, which have been patented and are under commercialization, so they decided to look into A. carbonarius ITEM 5010&amp;rsquo;s potential for biofuels.</p><p>Fungi are complex microorganisms and are not always easy to work with, Ahring said. They have a complex biology that is often poorly understood.“Not many people in this world actually do this,&amp;rsquo;&amp;rsquo; she said. “The molecular biology piece of it is complicated.&amp;rsquo;&amp;rsquo;</p><p>The researchers were assisted by Kenneth Bruno, a researcher at the U.S. Department of Energy&amp;rsquo;s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, who developed a method essential for the genetic manipulation of A. carbonarius. The research received funding from the Danish Council for Strategic Research under the program for Energy and Environment.</p><p>Ahring said. They have a complex biology that is often poorly understood.“Not many people in this world actually do this,&amp;rsquo;&amp;rsquo; she said. “The molecular biology piece of it is complicated.&amp;rsquo;&amp;rsquo;The researchers were assisted by Kenneth Bruno, a researcher at the U.S. Department of Energy&amp;rsquo;s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, who developed a method essential for the genetic manipulation of A. carbonarius. The research received funding from the Danish Council for Strategic Research under the program for Energy and Environment.Using fungi for hydrocarbon and biofuels production is better than other methods because they do the work themselves, bypassing multiple complicated chemical processes required by other biofuel production methods. Fungi also have great potential to create the fuel at low cost, Ahring said.She suspects the fungi produce hydrocarbons, large compounds that are costly for the organism to produce, as a protective mechanism. Her group showed that fungi react to bacterial attacks by increasing their hydrocarbon production.The researchers are now working to optimize the fungi&amp;rsquo;s hydrocarbon production and improve biochemical pathways through genetic engineering. They have obtained mutants with a higher production level and are working on improving these strains by using gene coding for specific hydrocarbons out of blue green bact