In West Virgina, researchers are using transgenics to develop cottonwood trees with cell wall characteristics that make it easier to extract lignin.
“One of the goals is to get the plants to produce lignin with a composition that is amenable to being converted to many different end products, such as carbon fibers, polyesters and plastics,” says Steve DiFazio, a biologist at West Virginia University.
DiFazio and fellow WVU professor Jonathan Cumming received $1.25 million in Department of Energy funds for their work. DiFazio and Cumming will study the characteristics of the transgenic trees, including response to light, frost, and disease, to evaluate possible unintended effects of the genes modified to produce bioproducts. “You can make something that has perfect cell wall qualities, but if it is susceptible to disease or insects or doesn’t stand up in the field, it doesn’t work,” Cumming says.
Eddie Brzostek, who was granted $718,000 as part of the Center of Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation at the University of Illinois, will use predictive modeling to determine how biofuel production impacts microbes that regulate soil carbon storage and nutrient release to aid plant growth. “The big uncertainty in a lot of climate change models is how ecosystems on the land are going to respond. However, there is nothing below ground. There’s no roots, no soil microbes and very little about nutrients. I’ve always been interested in getting below-ground processes into these models, which is where I come in on this project,” says Brzostek, an assistant professor of forest ecology and ecosystem modeling.
http://www.register-herald.com/news/growing-the-future-sustainably-wvu-biologists-team-up-to-research/article_136fe989-5e76-55a1-b73a-d8108e09c5ce.html