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Wednesday, April 16, 2008 Corn Primed for Making BiofuelContinued from page 1 By Alexandra M. Goho
Although it's possible to incorporate all three genes in a single plant, says Sticklen, using three different varieties of corn, each carrying a different gene, will allow her to control the conversion of cellulose into sugars. Preliminary studies show that the enzymes are just as efficient as commercially available enzymes when combined at a ratio of 1:4:1, she says. The results suggest that mixing the three different plants using the same ratios will provide the best outcome. "I think the strategy of compartmentalizing the enzymes in the vacuoles is terrific," says Susan Leschine, a microbiologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. "The question I have is, do the enzymes work under conditions that are realistic?" For instance, different microbe species secrete their own cellulases that work synergistically to chip away at the cellulose fibers. It's unclear, Leschine says, how well an enzyme taken from a microbe that lives in a hot spring will work with an enzyme drawn from a soil fungus. "These different enzymes may not be active under the same conditions," she says. Edenspace, which is currently developing Sticklen's technology, expects to begin field trials of her genetically modified corn within the year, with the goal of commercializing the technology within the next three years, says Blaylock. The company is not alone in pursuing this strategy: Agrivida, an agricultural biotech company based in Medford, MA, is also genetically modifying corn to simplify the production of cellulosic ethanol. "This really is a worthwhile path to follow," says Michael Ladisch, professor of agricultural and biological engineering at Purdue University, in West Lafayette, IN. "However, at the end of the day, it's more complicated than it seems." The main obstacle is finding ways to ensure that the enzymes will survive the chemical and physical pretreatment needed to remove the lignin--the tough polymer in cell walls that provides plants with strength--from the cellulose fibers, says Ladisch, who is currently on leave from Purdue to serve as the chief technical officer at Mascoma, a biofuels company based in Brighton, MA. One solution is to engineer the plants so that they require only a mild pretreatment. For instance, Sticklen is working on reducing the amount of lignin contained in corn, as well as modifying the molecular configuration of lignin, which would make it easier to break down. Although her work is currently focused on modifying corn, Sticklen says that the technology could eventually be transferred to other crops as well, such as switchgrass. |
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Battling Ethanol-Propelled Food Prices
04/18/2008
Comments
RBGoulder on 04/16/2008 at 8:46 AM
1
camdaddy09 on 05/14/2008 at 1:54 PM
12
bj on 04/16/2008 at 10:01 AM
18
Meanwhile the food riots have started . . .
rhuarch on 04/16/2008 at 11:59 AM
1
greymase on 04/17/2008 at 1:38 PM
2
What I am somewhat less thrilled with is that it appears that farmers may not be able to convert this to energy on-site to run their farms as they are now by converting corn in on-site stills. I think decentralization and de-corporatization (small corps good, big corps, not so much) of energy is great and reduces costs. If this has to be shipped somewhere first, and then distributed, the returns on the energy input drop. I hope it can stay local - and this won't be put into a mega-corp that restricts its use.
nekote on 04/16/2008 at 1:08 PM
101
Congress enabled an uneconomical biofuels method via subsidies, mandates and protectionist tariffs on imports.
Now, fuel prices, food prices and taxes are higher than necessary.
Corn has gone from ~$2 a bushel to ~$6 a bushel.
Great for corn farmers / the corn "cartel".
And for corn state Senators / Reps.
Billions of tax dollars for the subsidies.
And one more special interest group lobbying Washington, to continue the status quo in their financial favor.
Corn to ethanol, while ever so well intentioned, is a stupid practice.
Leastwise, as currently practiced with the subsidies, mandates and tariffs.
ella on 04/16/2008 at 1:25 PM
1
Monsterboy on 04/16/2008 at 1:54 PM
46
bobinverness on 04/16/2008 at 2:58 PM
1
but then the 'green' nazis would object to any possible solution to the problem wouldn't they?
mkogrady on 04/17/2008 at 1:51 PM
64
As for a suggestion - make the enzymes work in simple lawn grass using a similar approach where each enzyme gets plugged in. Maybe Kentucky Blue Grass gets Enzyme A, while Fescue gets Enzyme B.
If done right, all our weekly lawn clippings become ethanol. The trick is to get a composter-widget setup in the yard so the ethanol collecting stays at home, otherwise setup some recovery program where homeowners get a credit to provide grass clippings to the local producer in exchange for a price break at the gas pump, or a write off at the end of the year for donating biomass to local businesses.
sirsnafu on 04/16/2008 at 2:05 PM
1
"To avoid the possibility of transferring the genes to other crops or wild plants, the enzymes are only produced in the plant's leaves and stems, not in its seeds, roots, or pollen,"
I believe this also means that it wont be in the corn that we eat. Its so that we can harvest the corn which is normal because they probably used a gene in the regulatory region that expresses the enzyme gene in the coding region to only be in the stems, they take the corn and instead of wasting all that extra plant that gets harvested, it can go to biofuel.
srudnick on 04/16/2008 at 2:38 PM
4
MakeSense on 04/19/2008 at 4:00 PM
56
srudnick on 04/21/2008 at 1:23 PM
4
In regards to worthiness of corn ethanol, your right, it is not a worthy long term answer. It is however a start down the road to energy independance with bio-ethanol as part of the answer for storable, portable fuel. Without corn ethanol and the infrastructure that will be developed with it we will years farther behind. We are already to far behind as it is.
Bribas on 04/16/2008 at 2:57 PM
1
mkogrady on 04/17/2008 at 1:53 PM
64
mkogrady on 04/16/2008 at 3:06 PM
64
Can this stuff power mass transit systems like light rail too!!!
killian on 04/17/2008 at 4:11 PM
54
desolation0 on 04/19/2008 at 11:28 AM
13
MakeSense on 04/19/2008 at 4:10 PM
56
It is a good idea to grow the enzymes for free. Oddly enough, Novozyme has brought the cost of fabricated enzymes for corn stover processing down to a quite low level, but this impacts overall costs mildly. Enzymes are just one of many obstacles to cellulosic ethanol that would need to be addressed.
I'll say it again. The least expensive, least energy intensive way to use biomass that conserves the greatest amount of original energy is burning it for electricity. That includes corn kernels. 75% of the energy content of corn kernels is used when they are burned as compared to less than 50% when converted to ethanol.
I also have doubts about genetic engineering. to alter plants in such arbitrary ways could be just what opportunistic microbes need to destroy the plant.
naturlm on 04/29/2008 at 2:00 AM
9
pepermintpatty on 04/30/2008 at 7:36 PM
1