Also: biodiesel, cellulosic ethanol, isobutanol, advanced biofuels
Fuels made by living things: oil from algae, ethanol from plant fibre, and fuels from engineered yeast and E. coli.
Gaps stated by the researchers themselves.
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Peralta-Yahya and colleagues reviewed engineering microbes, including yeast and E. coli, to make advanced biofuels.
As reported in: Peralta-Yahya, Zhang, del Cardayre et al. (2012). Microbial engineering for the production of advanced biofuels. Nature. doi:10.1038/nature11478
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Atsumi, Hanai and Liao diverted E. coli amino-acid pathway intermediates to produce higher alcohols, achieving high-yield isobutanol from glucose.
As reported in: Atsumi, Hanai, Liao (2008). Non-fermentative pathways for synthesis of branched-chain higher alcohols as biofuels. Nature. doi:10.1038/nature06450
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Steen and colleagues engineered E. coli to make fatty esters (biodiesel), fatty alcohols and waxes directly from simple sugars.
As reported in: Steen, Kang, Bokinsky et al. (2010). Microbial production of fatty-acid-derived fuels and chemicals from plant biomass. Nature. doi:10.1038/nature08721
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Chisti reviewed producing biodiesel from microalgae.
As reported in: Chisti (2007). Biodiesel from microalgae. Biotechnology Advances. doi:10.1016/j.biotechadv.2007.02.001
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Himmel and colleagues described "biomass recalcitrance," the natural resistance of plant cell walls to breakdown, as the main reason cellulosic biofuels are costly.
As reported in: Himmel, Ding, Johnson et al. (2007). Biomass Recalcitrance: Engineering Plants and Enzymes for Biofuels Production. Science. doi:10.1126/science.1137016
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