Harnessing plants for production of renewable hydrocarbon biofuels

汽油和柴油目前由由各种碳氢化合物组成的原油化石油提供，因为它们所含的高度还原的碳具有最大的化学能量。许多现代交通系统，以及整个现代社会，都依赖于这些碳氢化合物。然而，化石碳氢化合物的储量有限，也必须尽快减少其使用，以将对世界气候的进一步影响降至最低。碳氢化合物可以在很小程度上被包括乙醇和生物柴油在内的其他化合物取代，但对于某些应用(如飞机)，高能碳氢化合物燃料仍将是必不可少的。因此，碳氢化合物的供应对社会和经济至关重要，开发可再生的碳氢化合物生产来源至关重要。由于缺乏对碳氢化合物生物合成的生化了解，目前无法生产可再生碳氢化合物生物汽油，因为这一领域的研究在很大程度上被忽视了。然而，可以预计，相对较少的实验将在这一具有高度战略意义的研究领域取得突破，使生物汽油技术能够在不久的将来得到开发。为此，必须将多种酶结合在一起，使高浓度的植物化合物，最重要的是脂肪酸，能够转化为所需的碳氢化合物。虽然这一过程所需的酶还没有被

Gasoline and diesel are currently provided by crude fossil oil consisting of diverse hydrocarbons, because the highly reduced carbon contained in them has maximum chemical energy. Much of the modern transportation systems, and therefore modern society as a whole, relies on these hydrocarbons. However, the reserves of fossil hydrocarbons are limited, and their use also has to be reduced as soon as possible to minimize further impact on world climate. Hydrocarbons can be to a small extent replaced by other compounds including ethanol and biodiesel, but for some applications (e.g. aircraft) high-energy hydrocarbon fuels will remain to be essential. Therefore, the supply of hydrocarbons is vital for society and economy, and it is of utmost importance to develop renewable sources for hydrocarbon production. Renewable hydrocarbon-based bio-gasoline cannot currently be produced due to a lack of biochemical understanding of hydrocarbon biosynthesis because research in this area has been largely neglected. Yet, a relatively small number of experiments can be expected to bring a break-through in this highly strategic research area that will enable bio-gasoline technology to be developed in the near future. To that end, a number of enzymes have to be combined so that high-concentration plant compounds, most importantly fatty acids, can be transformed into the desired hydrocarbons. While the enzymes necessary for the process have not been