Biotech
[Due to the increasing size of the archives, each topic page now contains only the prior 365 days of content. Access to older stories is now solely through the Monthly Archive pages or the site search function.]
MSU to Create Genomic Clearinghouse for Cellulosic Ethanol Energy Crops
August 14, 2008
Michigan State University (MSU) scientists, supported with a $540,000 Federal grant, are creating a Web-based genomic database of information on energy crops that can be used to make cellulosic ethanol. Genomic databases contain information on the molecular biology and genetics of a particular species.
C. Robin Buell, associate professor of plant biology and project leader and Kevin Childs, a postdoctoral researcher in her lab, will use the joint grant from the US Departments of Agriculture and Energy (USDA and DOE) to centralize the genomic databases, create uniform annotations (notes or descriptions of the genomes), provide data-mining and search tools, and provide a Web site for scientists from around the world to access the databases. They also will regularly update the information.
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DOE Awards $1.6M for Investigation of Hydrogen Production by Thermotoga Bacteria
July 31, 2008
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| Thermotoga maritima (green/yellow rods) growing in co-culture with Methanococcus jannaschii (red spheres). T. maritima ferments sugars to hydrogen and M. jannaschii converts hydrogen to methane. |
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded $1.6 million to a team led by North Carolina State University to learn more about the microbiology, genetics and genomics of thermotogales—extremophile bacteria that produce large amounts of hydrogen with unusually high efficiencies. (Earlier post.)
An earlier project funded by the DOE found that one representative of this order, Thermotoga neapolitana, consistently obtained accumulations of 25-30% hydrogen. Thermotogales are found in areas which are naturally hot—including volcanic sediments, hot springs and brines from deep oil wells.
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Scientists Determine Structure of Third Hydrogenase Enzyme; Insights Could Lead to Better Hydrogen Catalysts
July 26, 2008
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| Superimposed active-site structure of the three phylogenetically unrelated hydrogenases: [NiFe]-hydrogenase, [FeFe]-hydrogenase, and [Fe]-hydrogenase. Click to enlarge. Credit: Shima et al. (2008), Science |
Some microbes use hydrogenases (enzymes) in their energy metabolism to catalyze H2/H+ interconversion reactions (H2 ⇋ 2H+ +2e–); these hydrogenases are more efficient catalysts than platinum, which is commonly used industrially to catalyze hydrogenation. There are three known and phylogenetically unrelated types of hydrogenases: [NiFe]-hydrogenases, [FeFe]-hydrogenases, and [Fe]-hydrogenase.
The structures of the first two hydrogenases—which have a pair of metal atoms (either two iron atoms or an iron and a nickel atom) at their active sites—were known. Now, scientists in Germany have discovered the structure of the third type of hydrogenase—which has but the single iron atom at the active site—and shown that all three known hydrogenases have obvious structural similarities, including active sites that contain an iron atom linked to a CO group. Their work is reported in the 25 July issue of the journal Science.
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Joint Genome Institute to Tackle 44 Sequencing Projects in 2009, Focused on Bioenergy and Environmental Applications
July 02, 2008
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| Botryococcus braunii, subject of one of the sequencing projects, is a microalga that produces long-chain hydrocarbons. Source: NIES |
The US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI) will initiate 44 new DNA sequencing projects in 2009, with continued focus on the JGI’s mission areas: bioremediation, and global carbon cycling. The 44 projects, culled from nearly 150 proposals received through the Community Sequencing Program (CSP), represent more 60 billion nucleotides of data to be generated through this biodiversity sampling campaign—roughly the equivalent of 20 human genomes.
Projects ranges from sequencing the Loblolly pine—the most commonly planted tree species in the US—to algae that produce long-chain hydrocarbons; to phytoplankton; to several metagenome complexes—complex microbial communities that are isolated directly from the environment or reside inside of a larger organism.
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ACGT and Synthetic Genomics Complete First Draft of Oil Palm Genome; Jatropha Sequencing Progressing
May 21, 2008
The Asiatic Centre for Genome Technology Sdn Bhd (ACGT) and Synthetic Genomics Inc. (SGI) have completed a first draft assembly and annotation of the oil palm genome. (Earlier post.) The organizations also announced that they have made progress in sequencing and analyzing the jatropha genome.
The oil palm and jatropha genome projects represent the first stages of research undertaken through a joint venture between SGI and ACGT which was announced in 2007 and is aimed at developing more high-yielding and disease-resistant plant feedstocks.
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Energy Biosciences Institute Funds First 49 Research Projects on Cellulosic Biofuels
May 06, 2008
The Energy Biosciences Institute (earlier post), the world’s largest public/private consortium dedicated to the application of biosciences to the energy sector, has announced an initial set of 49 research projects for funding during the first year of EBI’s 10-year program.
Projects are being supported at all three of the public partner institutions—the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. BP is funding the decade of work with $500 million, about $20 million of which is supporting the first package of projects.
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Sequencing of Fungus Genome Opens Opportunities for Improvements in Biofuels Enzymes
May 05, 2008
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| Microscope image of T. reesei hyphae with vesicle membranes stained red and cell wall chitin in blue. Click to enlarge. Courtesy of Mari Valkonen, VTT Finland. |
The genome analysis of the fungus Trichoderma reesei, notorious for the deterioration of fatigues and tents in the South Pacific theater of WWII, highlights opportunities for further improvements in enzymes customized for biofuels production. The results were published online 4 May in Nature Biotechnology by an international team of government, academic, and industry researchers led by the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).
The progenitor strain of T. reesei has yielded variants for broad industrial applications and is known today as an abundant source of enzymes, particularly cellulases and hemicellulases, currently being explored to catalyze the deconstruction of plant cell walls as a first step towards the production of biofuels from lignocellulose.
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CleanTech Biofuels and Green Tech America Enter Joint Research Agreement for Waste-to-Ethanol Project
April 30, 2008
CleanTech Biofuels, Inc. has entered into a Joint Research Agreement with Green Tech America, Inc., a company founded by Dr. Nancy Ho of Purdue University, whereby Green Tech America (GTA) will provide research and testing to CleanTech Biofuels on the fermentation stage of CleanTech’s municipal solid waste (MSW)-to-ethanol project.
CleanTech Biofuels is a development stage company that holds exclusive licenses to a pair of technologies for converting municipal solid waste (MSW) into ethanol. The first, Pressurized Steam Classification (PSC), involves the treatment of MSW at temperature and pressure in order to convert the cellulosic material into a homogeneous cellulosic fuel feedstock, recover other valuable byproducts, and reduce the volume of waste materials that must be sent to landfills. The second, the Brelsford dilute-acid hydrolysis process, converts the recovered cellulosic feedstock into C5 and C6 sugars that are fermentable into ethanol.
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University Spin-Off to Begin Field Trial of Methanogenic Degradation of Heavy Oil Next Month
April 29, 2008
Researchers from Canada and the UK expect to begin field trials next month on the ability of anaerobic microbes to process in-situ heavy oil to produce methane—i.e., methanogenic degradation of heavy oil.
Scientists at Newcastle University, England, and the University of Calgary, Canada, have set up a company, Profero Energy Inc, to build on their recent research, which demonstrated how naturally-occurring microbes convert oil to methane over tens of millions of years. The team recently published a paper on their latest work in the journal Nature. (Earlier post.)
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Researchers Modify Microbe to Produce Non-Crystalline Cellulose for Use in Biofuel Production
April 23, 2008
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| Left: Two rod-shaped, wild type cyanobacteria. Right: A genetically altered cyanobacterium that produced highly visible cellulose (marked by cellulase coupled with an electron dense gold marker). Click to enlarge. Credit: Brown and Nobles, UT Austin |
Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have modified a photosynthetic microbe (Synechococcus leopoliensis strain UTCC 100, a cyanobacterium) to produce non-crystalline cellulose which can be used as a feedstock for producing ethanol and other biofuels. A paper on the research is published in the journal Cellulose.
Professor R. Malcolm Brown Jr. and Dr. David Nobles Jr. modified the cyanobacterium (also known as blue-green algae) by transferring cellulose synthesis genes from Gluconacetobacter xylinus, a prolific cellulose producer. The cellulose produced by the modified cyanobacterium is in a relatively pure, gel-like form that can be broken down easily into glucose. The cyanobacteria also directly produce large amounts of glucose or sucrose.
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Researchers Modifying Corn With Genes to Produce Enzymes to Enable Simpler Production of Cellulosic Ethanol
April 08, 2008
Researchers at Michigan State University (MSU) are modifying the corn genome to enable the production of enzymes, within the corn biomass, needed to convert cellulose into fermentable sugar. This capability reduces the need for pretreatment of the biomass for the production of cellulosic ethanol. The transgenic corn plants produce these enzymes only in their leaves and stalk, and store them in sub-cellular compartments (the vacuoles).
The most recent version of the engineered corn—Spartan Corn III—now uses three enzymes from different sources: the thermophilic Acidothermus cellulolyticus E1 endo-cellulase; the fungal Trichoderma reesei (CBH1) exo-cellulase; and, the most recent addition, the microbial Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens H17c beta-glucosidase. MSU professor of crop and soil science Mariam Sticklen is presenting a talk on her team’s work at the 235th national meeting of the American Chemical Society this week in New Orleans, Louisiana.
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Vogelbusch Optimizes Yeast for Higher-Yield Fermentation Process for Cellulosic Ethanol
March 29, 2008
Austria-based Vogelbusch GmbH has developed and is seeking a patent on an efficient fermentation process for the high-yield extraction of bioethanol from materials containing hemicellulose using an optimized strain of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Working in partnership with the Institute of Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering at Graz University of Technology, the company says it has succeeded in extracting “significantly more” ethanol from this raw material than other processes.
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Researchers Find Mechanism for Bacterial Production of Electricity
March 04, 2008
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| Combined electron shuttling and chelator (shelator) activity by FMN or riboflavin (abbreviated as vitamin B2). |
Researchers at the University of Minnesota that are studying bacteria that are able to transfer electrons to metals have discovered that riboflavin (commonly known as vitamin B2) is responsible for much of the energy produced by these organisms.
The bacteria, Shewanella, are commonly found in water and soil and are of interest because they can convert simple organic compounds such as lactic acid into electricity, according to Daniel Bond and Jeffrey Gralnick of the University of Minnesota’s BioTechnology Institute and department of microbiology, who led the research effort.
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Researchers Unveil Draft Sequence of Corn Genome
February 25, 2008
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| DNA from the human and corn (maize) genomes contain dispersed arrangements of genes (green in maize.) The number and size of repeated DNA segments (brown) between the genes in maize presented unique challenges for the sequencing team. Click to enlarge. Credit: Nicolle Rager Fuller, NSF |
A team of scientists led by Washington University in St. Louis have completed a working draft of the corn genome, an accomplishment likely to accelerate efforts to develop crop varieties to meet society’s growing demands for food, livestock feed and fuel.
The genetic blueprint will be announced on 28 February by the project’s leader, Richard K. Wilson, Ph.D., director of Washington University’s Genome Sequencing Center, at the 50th Annual Maize Genetics Conference in Washington, D.C.
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Solazyme Ups Soladiesel Testing to B100
February 11, 2008
Solazyme, which recently announced the road-testing of blends of Soladiesel, its first algal biodiesel (earlier post), has successfully taken the test blends up to B100, according to Jonathan Wolfson, Solazyme’s CEO.
Soladiesel, the first of Solazyme’s planned algal fuel projects, is a biodiesel produced from algae that are engineered to produce an oil with an optimized fatty acid profile to enhance cold flow performance, among other properties, and are also modified to grow in the dark in industrial fermentation tanks fed with plant sugars.
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Metabolix to Develop Advanced Industrial Oilseed Crops for Bioplastic and Biofuel Production
February 08, 2008
Metabolix, Inc. has initiated a program to develop an advanced industrial oilseed crop to produce bioplastics. Oilseeds are the primary feedstock for the more than 250 million gallons of biodiesel produced annually in the United States and the co-production of bioplastics promises to improve the economics of this crop industry.
Industrial oilseeds represent the third crop system to which Metabolix is applying its patented technology. The company is also developing enhanced switchgrass, and sugarcane crops to co-produce bio-based and biodegradable plastic within the leaves and stems of these crops to more economically meet energy and bioplastic needs globally.
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Coskata Forms Strategic Alliance with ICM for Design and Construction of Syngas Fermentation Ethanol Plant
February 06, 2008
Coskata Inc., the second-generation ethanol startup with which GM announced a partnership and investment at the Detroit Auto Show (earlier post), has entered a strategic alliance with ICM, Inc. to design and construct a commercial ethanol plant using Coskata’s syngas fermentation technology.
ICM is North America’s leading ethanol plant design, engineering and support firm, and is responsible for approximately 50% of North American ethanol production from plants constructed by Fagen, Inc. and ICM.
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Researchers Sequence Genome of Photosynthetic Bacterium That Uses Near-Infrared Light
February 05, 2008
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| Photomicrograph of Acaryochloris marina. Source: Phototrophic Prokaryotes Sequencing Project |
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and Arizona State University have sequenced the genome of the cyanobacterium Acaryochloris marina, the only well-studied photosynthetic species that contains chlorophyll d (Chl d) as the major photosynthetic pigment. Chlorophyll d absorbs “red edge,” near-infrared, long wavelength light.
The extension of Chl d absorption into the near-infrared, beyond the range of any other oxygenic photosynthetic organisms, could have immense agricultural consequences, noted the project team. If Chl d could be incorporated into higher plants, it has a potential capacity of increasing the energy conversion of sunlight by 5% compared to that of the chlorophyll a-containing organisms.
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Genetically Engineered E. Coli Shows Increased Hydrogen Production Up to 141 Times Greater Than Wild Type
January 29, 2008
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| Schematic of fermentative hydrogen production in E. coli. Hydrogen is produced from formate by the formate hydrogen lyase (FHL) system, which is activated by FhlA and repressed by HycA. Evolved hydrogen is consumed through the hydrogen uptake activity of hydrogenase 1 and hydrogenase 2. Click to enlarge. |
Researchers at Texas A&M University have genetically modified a strain of E. coli to produce a substantial increase in its fermentative production of hydrogen from formate—up to 141 times greater than in a wild type. In addition, the hydrogen yield from glucose was increased by 50%, and there was threefold higher hydrogen production from glucose with this strain.
Professor Thomas Wood and his team detail their results in an open access paper in the inaugural issue of Microbial Biotechnology, a new journal from Blackwell Synergy published jointly with the Society for Applied Microbiology.
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Solazyme Introduces Its First Algal Biodiesel, Enters Development Agreement With Chevron
January 22, 2008
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| The Soladiesel test car. |
Solazyme, Inc., a synthetic biology company formed in 2003 to pursue biofuels from microalgae, is introducing Soladiesel, its first algal biodiesel, which has undergone road testing in a blend by powering a Mercedes-Benz sedan for long distances under typical driving conditions. Solazyme also announced that it has signed a feedstock development and testing agreement with Chevron Technology Ventures, a division of Chevron USA.
Solazyme is currently producing thousands of gallons of algal oil for use in producing algal biodiesel via conventional transesterification or algal renewable diesel via refinery-based hydrotreatment.
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DOE JGI Releases Preliminary Soybean Genome Assembly To Enable Worldwide Bioenergy Research Efforts
January 18, 2008
The US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI) has released a preliminary assembly and annotation of the soybean genome, Glycine max, to the greater scientific community to enable bioenergy research. The preliminary data can be accessed at http://www.phytozome.net/soybean.
The large-scale shotgun DNA sequencing project began in the middle of 2006 and will be completed in 2008. A total of about 13 million shotgun reads have been produced and deposited in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Trace Archive in accordance with the consortium’s commitment to early access and consistent with the Fort Lauderdale genome data release policy.
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UCLA Researchers Modify E. Coli to Produce Efficiently Higher-Chain Alcohols for Advanced Biofuels
January 02, 2008
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| The UCLA approach shifts part of the bacteria’s biosynthetic pathway to alcohol synthesis. Various 2-keto acid precursors lead to corresponding alcohols through 2-ketoacid decarboxylase and alcohol dehydrogenase. Click to enlarge. |
Researchers at UCLA have genetically modified Escherichia coli to produce efficiently several higher-chain alcohols from glucose, including isobutanol, 1-butanol, 2-methyl-1-butanol, 3-methyl-1-butanol and 2-phenylethanol. A description of the work appears in the 3 January issue of the journal Nature.
Instead of relying on fermentation for the production of the alcohols, the UCLA approach—developed by professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering James Liao, postdoctoral fellow Shota Atsumi and visiting professor Taizo Hanai—leverages E. coli’s highly active amino acid biosynthetic pathway by shifting part of it (its 2-keto acid intermediates) to alcohol synthesis. In particular, the research team achieved high-yield, high-specificity production of isobutanol from glucose.
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Discovery of Mechanism of Biodegradation of Crude Oil to Methane Could Lead to Cleaner Oil-Sands Production and Enhanced Energy Recovery from Oilfields
December 14, 2007
An international team of researchers has shown how anaerobic microbes in oil deposits around the world—including in unconventional sources such as the oil sands—naturally break down crude oil into methane in the reservoir.
Their discovery—published in the journal Nature—could lead to more energy-efficient, economic ways to extract difficult-to-recover energy from oilfields or heavy oil and oil-sands deposits.
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Researchers Identify New Hydrogen- and Ethanol-Producing Bacteria That Withstand High Temperatures
December 03, 2007
A team of researchers from Finland, Iceland and Taiwan have found new strains of bacteria with the potential of producing hydrogen or ethanol fuels from wastewater now discharged from factories that process sugar beets, potatoes and other plant material.
Fermentations can produce fuels such as hydrogen and ethanol (EtOH) from biomass or organic waste materials. The goal of this research, reported in the Jan./Feb. issue of Energy & Fuels, a bi-monthly journal of the American Chemical Society, was to prospect efficient H2- and EtOH-producing thermophilic microorganisms derived from hot spring environments in Iceland that could withstand higher temperatures than microbes now in use.
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Ceres Sponsoring Switchgrass Research at South Dakota State University
Energy crop company Ceres, Inc. is sponsoring research at South Dakota State University in Brookings to develop improved switchgrass for the northern Great Plains. Switchgrass is a native species of North America’s tallgrass prairie and is considered a promising feedstock for cellulosic ethanol.
The cooperative, multi-year program will focus on developing higher-yielding cultivars adapted to production in northern latitudes, often called upland types. South Dakota State University (SDSU) plant breeder Arvid Boe, Ph.D, will lead field and greenhouse research, which will involve cross breeding and selections supported by Ceres technology that makes the process more efficient and predictable.
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Newly Discovered Methane-Consuming Bacterium Could Help Reduce GHG Emissions from Landfills and Powerstations
November 23, 2007
An international team of researchers has discovered a methane-consuming microorganism that lives in extremely acidic conditions. The bacterium could one day be used to reduce methane gas emissions from landfills. It could also help to cut methane emissions from geothermal power stations.
Aerobic methanotrophic bacteria (methanotrophs) consume methane diffusing away from methane-producing zones of soil and sediment. Some environments with active methane cycles—such as marshes and peat bogs—are very acidic; however, no cultured methanotroph grows optimally below pH 5. By contrast, the new bacterium is extremely acidophilic, and grows optimally at pH 2.0-2.5.
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Metagenomic Analysis of Microbes in Termite Guts May Yield Novel Enzymes for Better Cellulosic Biofuel Production
November 21, 2007
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| Termites of the genus Nasutitermes. |
Termites digest wood with the help of a large and complex community of intestinal microorganisms. A just-completed metagenomic analysis of this bacterial community in the hindgut paunch of a wood-feeding Costa Rican termite shows the presence of a large, diverse set of bacterial genes for cellulose and xylan hydrolysis. This first system-wide gene analysis of a community specialized toward the breakdown of plant cellulose also provides insights into important symbiotic functions, and could lead to the production of novel enzymes for better biofuel production.
The genomic sequencing and analysis of the termite gut microbes by the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI); the California Institute of Technology; Verenium Corporation (formerly Diversa), a biofuels company; INBio, the National Biodiversity Institute of Costa Rica; and the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center are highlighted in the 22 November edition of the journal Nature.
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Companies Form Joint Venture to Produce Camelina-Based Biodiesel
November 20, 2007
Targeted Growth, Inc. (TGI), a renewable energy bioscience company, and Green Earth Fuels, a vertically integrated renewable biodiesel energy company, have formed a joint venture called Sustainable Oils, Inc. to produce and to market up to 100 million gallons of camelina-based biodiesel by 2010.
Camelina sativa is an oilseed plant in the family Brassicaceae, which also includes rapeseed (Brassica napus). (Canola is a group of cultivars of rapeseed variants.) C. sativa can grow on marginal land, requires minimal water or fertilizer, and can be harvested with traditional equipment. Nearly all of the initial camelina production is expected to be grown in Montana. The deal represents the largest single US contract yet for the biodiesel-specific feedstock.
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Researchers Establish First Electrical Connection Between Hydrogenase Enzymes and Nanotubes; Potential Biohybrid Catalyst for Hydrogen Production and Use
November 19, 2007
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| Molecular model of CaHydI hydrogenase enzyme bound to a SWNT, one of several plausible arrangements. The yellow and green units show the FeS clusters. There are many possible geometries, but the existence of a strong electronic interaction demonstrates that at least one of the FeS clusters must be proximal to the tubes. Click to enlarge. Courtesy of Michael J. Heben, NREL |
Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado are reporting the first successful electrical connection between hydrogenase enzymes and carbon nanotubes.
Their work, which shows that surfactant-suspended carbon single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) spontaneously self-assemble with [FeFe] hydrogenases in solution to form catalytically active biohybrids, is scheduled for publication in the November issue of the ACS journal Nano Letters.
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University of Alberta Team wins iGEM Prize for Bioengineering E. Coli to Produce Butanol
November 07, 2007
A 10-member team of University of Alberta students, who call themselves the “Butanerds,” won first prize in the Energy and the Environment category at the fourth annual International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition held this past weekend at MIT.
The team has been working on manipulating E. coli to produce butanol by introducing the genes responsible for butanol production from Clostridium acetobutylicum (i.e. endogenous butanoate pathway) into E. coli. Furthermore, the team is working to increase E. coli’s tolerance to solvents such as butanol.
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Report from JCVI, CSIS and MIT Outlines Policy Options for Synthetic Genomics
November 06, 2007
Policy experts from the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have released a report, “Synthetic Genomics: Options for Governance,” which outlines areas for interventions and policy options to help mitigate potential risks with this area of research.
Synthetic genomics combines methods for the chemical synthesis of DNA with computational techniques for its design, allowing scientists to construct genetic material that would be impossible or impractical using more conventional biotechnological approaches. Scientists foresee many potential positive applications including new pharmaceuticals and biologically produced, green fuels.
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Shell and Codexis Expand Collaboration to Develop Novel Enzymes for Next-Generation Biofuels
Royal Dutch Shell has expanded its collaboration with Codexis Inc. (earlier post) to develop novel, optimized enzymes to convert biomass to fuel. The new agreement covers five years of research collaboration and includes Shell making an equity investment in Codexis and taking a seat on the company’s board.
Research will focus on adapting enzymes to improve the conversion of a range of biomass into high-performance fuels.
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Genencor Launches First Commercial Enzyme Product for Cellulosic Ethanol
October 15, 2007
Genencor, a division of Danisco A/S, introduced Accellerase 1000, the first commercially available biomass enzyme developed specifically for second generation biorefineries. Accellerase 1000 contains a complex of enzymes that reduces complex lignocellulosic biomass into fermentable sugars.
Genencor has been developing its biomass enzymes for more than 10 years. The effort was partially supported by contracts with the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
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NSF Awards Genome Research Grant for Study of Production of Novel Fatty Acids in Oilseeds for Biofuels and Biolubricants
October 12, 2007
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a four-year, $4.6M grant to a project team led by John Browse at Washington State University to continue research that uses biochemical genomics to reveal components of biosynthesis pathways necessary to produce novel fatty acids in oilseeds.
The types and respective quantities of fatty acids in vegetable oils have a direct impact on the fuel properties of biodiesel. The basic knowledge from this project is intended to enable the design of a new generation of specialty crops that will become the “green factories” of the future, providing for the production of industrial lubricants, solvent oils and biodiesel.
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Green Alga Genome Project Catalogs Carbon Capture Machinery; Opportunities for Improving Efficiencies of Biofuels Production
October 11, 2007
The genome analysis of the single-celled alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has uncovered hundreds of genes that are uniquely associated with carbon dioxide capture and generation of biomass. Among the 15,000-plus genes revealed in the study are those that encode the structure and function of the specialized organelle that houses the photosynthetic apparatus, the chloroplast, which is responsible for converting light to chemical energy.
The project, led by the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI); the University of California, Los Angeles; and the Carnegie Institution, and including contributions from more than 100 international collaborators, is featured in the 12 October edition of the journal Science.
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NIST Awards Almost $10M to 5 New Bio-based Fuels and Chemicals Projects
September 27, 2007
The Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is awarding up to $138.7 million in funding to 56 new research and development projects under the agency’s Advanced Technology Program (ATP). The new awards represent a broad range of technologies, including alternative energy sources, biofuels, transportation, manufacturing, semiconductor electronics, nanotechnology, energy conservation, medical diagnostic techniques, and automated language translation, among others.
The 56 projects were chosen in a competition announced last April and represent the last set of R&D projects to be funded under the ATP. Of the 56 projects, five focus on the development of bio-based fuels and chemicals, and will receive combined funding of up to $9.941 million.
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Ceres Raises $75 Million in Late-Stage Financing
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| Ceres’ view of traits of the ideal energy crop. Click to enlarge. |
Energy crop company Ceres, Inc. has raised $75 million through a private offering of convertible preferred stock. The late-stage financing round was led by Warburg Pincus, the global private equity firm.
A seed and traits developer, Ceres plans to use the proceeds for research and product development activities in several dedicated energy crops, which are bred to maximize yields of plant biomass. The funds will also be used for capital expenditures and general corporate purposes.
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Novozymes in Development Agreement For Bagasse Ethanol in Brazil
September 13, 2007
Novozymes has concluded a development agreement with CTC (Centro de Tecnologia Canavieira), the Brazilian sugar cane industry’s technical center, to contribute enzyme technology for developing bioethanol from bagasse.
The agreement with CTC is a research collaboration with a view to developing bioethanol from bagasse—the residual cellulosic product of sugar production from sugar cane. The development work will take place in a close collaboration between CTC and Novozymes in Brazil, aided by Novozymes’ R&D centers in the US and Denmark.
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UC Irvine and Synthetic Biology Company Collaborate to Re-Engineer Yeast for Optimized Cellulosic Biofuel Production
September 04, 2007
Scientists from UC Irvine and CODA Genomics are partnering on new research aimed at engineering Saccharomyces cerevesiae—a common strain of yeast used in the production of beer, wine and bread—into an efficient producer of cellulosic ethanol.
In its natural state, Saccharomyces processes glucose but does not contain the necessary enzymes to process other sugars, such as xylose and arabinose, that are components of biomass. The bio-engineered version of the yeast will produce enzymes that can help it digest these and other sugars with equal ease, maximizing its ethanol production.
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Researchers Identify Sorghum Gene for Aluminum Tolerance; Implications for Increased Crop Yield in Acidic Soils
August 28, 2007
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| Aluminum toxicity in acidic soils limits crop production in as much as half the world’s arable land, mostly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and South America. Source: Cornell University |
Aluminum toxicity in highly acidic soils (which releases the aluminum from clay minerals) significantly reduces crop yields. These highly acidic soils constitute up to 50% of the world’s arable land—mostly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and South America.
Now, researchers from the US and Brazil, led by a lab at Cornell University, have identified a novel gene in sorghum that encodes the proteins responsible for the major sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) aluminum tolerance. The discovery has important implications for increasing crop yield—for food and biofuels—in acidic soils.
