Summary:
This article is about how scientists form all over the world have collaborated and found the gene in plants that make them be able to stand. By modifiying this gene to be produce less of this strengthener, it allows the proceess of making biofuel more efficient by 4 fold. Using this new information, it makes it easier to create biofuel, which will decrease the amount of fossil fuels used. This will also make converting crops to fuel alot more "Earth friendly" since it requires lees energy to produce more energy.
Highlighted Article:
Aug. 15, 2013 — Limited availability of fossil fuels stimulates the search for different energy resources. The use of biofuels is one of the alternatives. Sugars derived from the grain of agricultural crops can be used to produce biofuel but these crops occupy fertile soils needed for food and feed production.
Fast growing plants such as poplar, eucalyptus, or various grass
residues such as corn stover and sugarcane bagasse do not compete and
can be a sustainable source for biofuel.
An international collaboration
of plant scientists from VIB and Ghent University (Belgium), the
University of Dundee (UK), The James Hutton Institute (UK) and the
University of Wisconsin (USA) identified a new gene in the biosynthetic
pathway of lignin, a major component of plant secondary cell walls that
limits the conversion of biomass to energy.
These findings published online in this week's issue of
Science Express pave the way for new initiatives supporting a bio-based economy.
"This exciting, fundamental discovery provides an alternative pathway
for altering lignin in plants and has the potential to greatly increase
the efficiency of energy crop conversion for biofuels," said Sally M.
Benson, director of Stanford University's Global Climate and Energy
Project. "We have been so pleased to support this team of world leaders
in lignin research and to see the highly successful outcome of these
projects."
Lignin as a barrier
To understand how plant cells can deliver fuel or plastics, a basic
knowledge of a plant's cell wall is needed. A plant cell wall mainly
consists of lignin and sugar molecules such as cellulose. Cellulose can
be converted to glucose which can then be used in a classical
fermentation process to produce alcohol, similar to beer or wine making.
Lignin is a kind of cement that embeds the sugar molecules and thereby
gives firmness to plants. Thanks to lignin, even very tall plants can
maintain their upright stature.
Unfortunately, lignin severely reduces
the accessibility of sugar molecules for biofuel production. The lignin
cement has to be removed via an energy-consuming and environmentally
unfriendly process. Plants with a lower amount of lignin or with lignin
that is easier to break down can be a real benefit for biofuel and
bioplastics production. The same holds true for the paper industry that
uses the cellulose fibres to produce paper.
A new enzyme
For many years researchers have been studying the lignin biosynthetic
pathway in plants. Increasing insight into this process can lead to new
strategies to improve the accessibility of the cellulose molecules.
Using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, an international research
collaboration between VIB and Ghent University (Belgium), the University
of Dundee (UK), the James Hutton Institute (UK) and the University of
Wisconsin (USA) has now identified a new enzyme in the lignin
biosynthetic pathway. This enzyme, caffeoyl shikimate esterase (CSE),
fulfils a central role in lignin biosynthesis. Knocking-out the CSE
gene, resulted in 36% less lignin per gram of stem material.
Additionally, the remaining lignin had an altered structure. As a
result, the direct conversion of cellulose to glucose from un-pretreated
plant biomass increased four-fold, from 18% in the control plants to
78% in the cse mutant plants.
These new insights, published this week online in Science Express,
can now be used to screen natural populations of energy crops such as
poplar, eucalyptus, switchgrass or other grass species for a
non-functional CSE gene. Alternatively, the expression of CSE can be
genetically engineered in energy crops. A reduced amount of lignin or an
adapted lignin structure can contribute to a more efficient conversion
of biomass to energy.
This research was co-financed by the multidisciplinary research
partnership 'Biotechnology for a sustainable economy' of Ghent
University, the DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center and the
'Global Climate and Energy Project' (GCEP). Based at Stanford
University, the Global Climate and Energy Project is a worldwide
collaboration of premier research institutions and private industry that
supports research on technologies that significantly reduce emissions
of greenhouse gases, while meeting the world's energy needs.
Purpose:
Hypothesis:
Procedure:
Results:
Conclusion:
Three Questions:
1. How many genes do plants have?
2. How many genes have we discovered?
3. Which genes do which process/activity?
Citing:
VIB (2013, August 15). New possibilities for efficient biofuel production.
ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 19, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com
/releases/2013/08/130815145034.htm
