'Self-digesting' biofuel plants could ease food crisis

[Aurora]

New Scientist - 16/05/08

Biofuel from plants could be a solution to the looming depletion of cheap oil, but making it out of food crops poses problems that are brought into sharp resolve by the current food crisis.

One way around this problem is to use the tough inedible plants, or parts of plants, to produce fuel, but this is currently an expensive, multistage process.

That could change though, says one expert, if we produced genetically engineered fuel plants that make their own cellulose-digesting enzymes ? a bit like oil that refines itself into petrol.

Article continues ...

[RenewableCandy]

This is all good stuff but if they still need land-area on which to grow, they will still add to the problem, albeit indirectly. If they could develop self-digesting woody plants that grow offshore we might be on to something. Perhaps they could seed the pacific gyres with the stuff?

[mikepepler]

And the article also says:

Of course, such a gene could wreak havoc if it got out into other plants.

To be fair they also propose a safeguard mechanism, but it still seems risky to me. Imagine chopping up your vegetables only to find them fizzing into sludge before your eyes!