Biofuels have been an often hotly debated topic in the past months. Blamed for numerous problems, including a sharp rise in food prices, creating waste sludge, and generally not being any more efficient to produce than the gasoline or even jet fuel that it's supposed to be replacing, it is not high on the list of popular technology at present.

One avenue that could help calm the stormy sea of ethanol debate is finding a more efficient way to produce it. Just last week, DailyTech reported on the growing idea of using algae as renewable crop for biofuel production. If the idea can be brought to bear, it could certainly take some of the pressure off the strained corn and sugar markets. Another simple idea is to improve the processes used to create ethanol in the first place.

In this Sunday's issue of Nature Biotechnology, researchers from the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute have published some data that may prove useful. The paper discusses the mighty fungus Trichoderma reesei, eater of many a soldier's uniform as well as tents and other organic fibers in the South Pacific during World War II. The full genetic sequencing of the fungus has given scientists some insight into how the green fungus digests and turns plant fibers into simple sugars, called monosaccharides, so efficiently.

Understanding how T. reesei creates the enzymes it uses to break down these plant fibers may further aid industries, which have already been using the fungus as a model, to create better procedures for biofuel production. "The information contained in its genome will allow us to better understand how this organism degrades cellulose so efficiently and to understand how it produces the required enzymes so prodigiously. Using this information, it may be possible to improve both of these properties, decreasing the cost of converting cellulosic biomass to fuels and chemicals," explained Joel Cherry, director of research activities in second-generation biofuels at Novozymes, a collaborating institution in the study.

While it's unlikely that biofuel becomes a topic less mired in debate in the near future, as with any NIMBY or "eco-friendly" type technology, making the process more efficient will help take the sting out of their use. With so much technology having to ride on the wave of public approval, these types of sciences need all the help they can get.