Decoding the mushroom

SPIGOT has always believed that man's ingenuity would silence the doomsayers. Brainpower came to the rescue by taming fire, during the ice ages, and with the internal combustion engine, when the world's major cities seemed doomed to sink under piles of horse manure. Now the boffins are about to do it again. Researchers at the University of Warwick are sequencing the genome of a mushroom that can make bio-fuels, can manage global carbon emissions and remove heavy metals from soil -- game set and match to the scientists, if it works. Apparently, Agaricus mushrooms decompose vegetable matter other fungi and bacteria do not touch. No one yet knows how they do it. When they do,the knowledge will help devise better ways of breaking down plant matter to make bio-fuel. Since all mushrooms absorb carbon dioxide while growing, their role in countering man made emissions is also of interest. These particular mushrooms also accumulate toxic metals, a trait that could prove invaluable in remediation of contaminated sites. This is no pie-in-sky solution or a march backwards, such as that presented by the wind powered generators now about to befoul our South African landscape. Mapping the genome of this marvellous mushroom is predicted to take only four years.