Transgenic Plants Lower the Costs of Cellulosic Biofuels (Fact Sheet)

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A new transgenic maize was observed to be less recalcitrant than wild-type biomass, as manifested through lower severity requirements to achieve comparable levels of conversion. Expression of a single gene derived from bacteria in plants has resulted in transgenic plants that are easier and cheaper to convert into biofuels. Part of the high production cost of cellulosic biofuels is the relatively poor accessibility of substrates to enzymes due to the strong associations between plant cell wall components. This biomass recalcitrance makes costly thermochemical pretreatment necessary. Scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have created transgenic maize expressing an active … continued below

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1 pg.

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Creator: Unknown. November 1, 2011.

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A new transgenic maize was observed to be less recalcitrant than wild-type biomass, as manifested through lower severity requirements to achieve comparable levels of conversion. Expression of a single gene derived from bacteria in plants has resulted in transgenic plants that are easier and cheaper to convert into biofuels. Part of the high production cost of cellulosic biofuels is the relatively poor accessibility of substrates to enzymes due to the strong associations between plant cell wall components. This biomass recalcitrance makes costly thermochemical pretreatment necessary. Scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have created transgenic maize expressing an active glycosyl hydrolase enzyme, E1 endoglucanase, originally isolated from a thermophilic bacterium, Acidothermus cellulolyticus. This engineered feedstock was observed to be less recalcitrant than wild-type biomass when subjected to reduced severity pretreatments and post-pretreatment enzymatic hydrolysis. This reduction in recalcitrance was manifested through lower severity requirements to achieve comparable levels of conversion of wild-type biomass. The improvements observed are significant enough to positively affect the economics of the conversion process through decreased capital construction costs and decreased degradation products and inhibitor formation.

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1 pg.

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  • Related Information: NREL Highlights, Science, NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

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  • November 1, 2011

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  • May 19, 2016, 3:16 p.m.

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  • May 26, 2016, 2:11 p.m.

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Transgenic Plants Lower the Costs of Cellulosic Biofuels (Fact Sheet), report, November 1, 2011; Golden, Colorado. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc832779/: accessed June 9, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.

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