Under the ever-growing threat of climate change, researchers are scrambling to find alternative energy sources to fossil fuels. Biofuels, such as bioethanol, are one such alternative, but are expensive and inefficient to produce. But now, researchers in the Buscaino lab at the University of Kent, UK, have discovered that a species of fermenting yeast has an unusual colony morphology that can switch its appearance. This ‘phenotypic switching system’ could one day be utilised to streamline the production of biofuel.
