Wanna Make Some Biodiesel?

Science, October 24, 2008 issue, has an article about synthetic chemists re-engineering E. coli, algae, and other microbes to produce biofuels. Good work, but did they try looking for organisms capable of doing it without all the engineering? I have composted in a totally wrong manner this year- enclosed plastic container (loose lid, but fastened down), not paying attention to brown/green ratios, etc. Somehow an unbelievable amount of yard and kitchen waste has turned into a large trash can almost full of blackish-green goo. I did seed it with dirt from a part of the yard where a watermelon rind rotted away to nothing in about 2 weeks last summer, but aside from a little mixing and a lot of dumping stuff in it, that was all the care required. At one point this summer the can was alive with beetle larvae (I looked them up- they are harmless), but they are gone now that cooler weather is here. Stuff still rots FAST when I mix it in. It turns black within a few days, then slowly loses its form. I'm not saying any biofuel has actually been generated back there (I rather hope I'm just making some decent fertilizer), but SOMETHING in that soil is capable of breaking things down fast. Kinda creepy, but in a good way.