Biofuels researchers target termite gut enzymes as key to cellulosic breakthrough

November 26, 2007

The November issue of Nature profiles research on enzymes found in termite guts.

The research is conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI), the California Institute of Technology, biofuels firm Verenium Corporation, INBio, the National Biodiversity Institute of Costa Rica, and the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center.

Another consortium, at Emeryville in California, is also looking at termites for their ability to convert cellulose to sugars.

The Emeryville lab will fuse the research efforts of UC-Berkeley, UC- Davis, the Carnegie Institution for Science, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , Lawrence Livermore and Sandia. The new venture will be known as the Energy Biosciences Institute.
The lab will be funded by the US Department of Energy, and also will benefit from a $500 million grant from BP. It will focus on several; areas of research besides termites, including feedstocks such as rice straw, switchgrass and Arabidopsis, a plant in the mustard family.

Illinois researchers develop low-cost path to cellulosic ethanol enzymes

In Illinois, researchers announced the discovery that new enzymes, able to be grown in corn,Â will break down plant cellulose for cellulosic ethanol production. Typical enzymes are grown in energy-...

Maryland researchers find enzyme that converts cellulose to sugar in one step; potential cost breakthrough for cellulosic ethanol

In Maryland, researchers have launched a new company, Zymentis, to commercialize a new enzyme they say will convert plant cellulose into sugars in one step. The researchers, from the University of Ma...

Michigan State researchers develop one-step procedure for cellulosic ethanol enzymes; growing them inside the crop, instead of in bioreactors

In Michigan, researchers at Michigan State have developed a process to insert enzymes used to break down cellulose, into crops such as corn. The process, which is just beginning a testing phase, would...

DuPont, Genecor launch $140 million cellulosic ethanol venture based on new enzymes

DuPont and biotech firm Genencor announced a $140 million joint venture to produce cellulosic ethanol. Each company will contribute $70 million to form DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol, and the new c...

Mascoma co-founder repots breakthrough in fermentation: new microbe tolerates more heat, requires less enzymes, produces ethanol only

In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Mascoma co-founder Lee Lynd reports that a genetically-engineered bacterium, called ALK2, makes only ethanol as an organic product of fermentatio...

Iowa State researchers predict cellulosic ethanol production will fall 80 percent short of Energy Act target

Researchers at Iowa State University have forecast that cellulosic ethanol production in the US will peak at 4.5 billion gallons by 2022, and only if US government incentives are increased to $1.55 pe...

Written by Jim Lane · Filed Under Research