人们对香菇这种味道鲜美的食物是再熟悉不过了，然而美国一项最新研究则可能赋予这种可食用菌类一个新的使命——未来的某一天，香菇或许会渐渐远离人们的餐桌和厨房，并投身到人们的汽车油箱中去。

    据美国“生活科学网”12月2日报道，香菇这种味道鲜美的菌类通常生长在森林中被伐倒的树木上。它会将木材中复杂的有机物分解为糖类，并以之作为维持自身生长的养料。目前，美国农业部农业研究服务局和一些科学家们正致力于研究，能否利用香菇的这种特性为生产燃料作出贡献。

    研究人员已经发现并复制了香菇的Xyn11A基因。正是Xyn11A基因赋予了香菇产生木聚糖酶的能力，而木聚糖酶则可将木材中的复杂有机物（如木质素、纤维素等）分解为葡萄糖和氨基酸。研究人员将这种基因分离出来之后，他们开始研究，能否利用其产生出大量的木聚糖酶，这些酶会被用于把稻米壳或其它一些农产品的剩余物分解成糖类，而分解出来的糖则可用来制造乙醇或其它类型的燃料。

    目前，科学家们正在进行实验，将这种基因转移到酵母菌中。而且，他们已经在酵母菌中生产出了木聚糖酶。接下来，他们要对这种基因进行改良，这样酵母菌就能在更短的时间内产生出更多的木聚糖酶。

    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.