Posted on 04/08/2008 12:56:21 PM PDT by Red Badger
EAST LANSING, Mich. — An enzyme from a microbe that lives inside a cow’s stomach is the key to turning corn plants into fuel, according to Michigan State University scientists.
The enzyme that allows a cow to digest grasses and other plant fibers can be used to turn other plant fibers into simple sugars. These simple sugars can be used to produce ethanol to power cars and trucks.
MSU scientists have discovered a way to grow corn plants that contain this enzyme. They have inserted a gene from a bacterium that lives in a cow’s stomach into a corn plant. Now, the sugars locked up in the plant’s leaves and stalk can be converted into usable sugar without expensive synthetic chemicals.
“The fact that we can take a gene that makes an enzyme in the stomach of a cow and put it into a plant cell means that we can convert what was junk before into biofuel,” said Mariam Sticklen, MSU professor of crop and soil science. She is presenting at the 235th national American Chemical Society meeting in New Orleans today. The work also is presented in the “Plant Genetic Engineering for Biofuel Production: Towards Affordable Cellulosic Ethanol” in the June edition of Nature Review Genetics.
Cows, with help from bacteria, convert plant fibers, called cellulose, into energy, but this is a big step for biofuel production. Traditionally in the commercial biofuel industry, only the kernels of corn plants could be used to make ethanol, but this new discovery will allow the entire corn plant to be used – so more fuel can be produced with less cost.
Turning plant fibers into sugar requires three enzymes. The new variety of corn created for biofuel production, called Spartan Corn III, builds on Sticklen’s earlier corn versions by containing all three necessary enzymes.
The first version, released in 2007, cuts the cellulose into large pieces with an enzyme that came from a microbe that lives in hot spring water.
Spartan Corn II, with a gene from a naturally occurring fungus, takes the large cellulose pieces created by the first enzyme and breaks them into sugar pairs.
Spartan Corn III, with the gene from a microbe in a cow, produces an enzyme that separates pairs of sugar molecules into simple sugars. These single sugars are readily fermentable into ethanol, meaning that when the cellulose is in simple sugars, it can be fermented to make ethanol.
“It will save money in ethanol production,” Sticklen said. “Without it they can’t convert the waste into ethanol without buying enzymes – which is expensive.”
The Spartan Corn line was created by inserting an animal stomach microbe gene into a plant cell. The DNA assembly of the animal stomach microbe required heavy modification in the lab to make it work well in the corn cells. Sticklen compared the process to adding a single Christmas tree light to a tree covered in lights.
“You have a lot of wiring, switches and even zoning,” Sticklen said. “There are a lot of changes. We have to increase production levels and even put it in the right place in the cell.”
If the cell produced the enzyme in the wrong place, then the plant cell would not be able to function, and, instead, it would digest itself. That is why Sticklen found a specific place to insert the enzyme.
One of the targets for the enzyme produced in Spartan Corn III is a special part of the plant cell, called the vacuole. The vacuole is a safe place to store the enzyme until the plant is harvested. The enzyme will collect in the vacuole with other cellular waste products.
Because it is only in the vacuole of the green tissues of plant cells, the enzyme is only produced in the leaves and stalks of the plant, not in the seeds, roots or the pollen. It is only active when it is being used for biofuels because of being stored in the vacuole.
“Spartan Corn III is one step ahead for science, technology, and it is even a step politically,” Sticklen said. “It is one step closer to producing fuel in our own country.”
To view a graphic illustrating how this new variety of corn has been genetically modified, go to: http://special.newsroom.msu.edu/newsroom_docs/spartancorn3v8.pdf.
Sticklen’s research was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and Edenspace Systems Corp., the Consortium for Plant Biotechnology Research, and MSU Research Excellence Funds.
Let's hear it for Frankenfood!
Wow... You mean cows turn plant stuff into methane? I never knew /sarc
insanity of the liberal loons at it's best.
Kudzu, wood chips, old cardboard boxes, pallets, anything made of cellulose....................
The problem with cellulosic is the hauling. Corn kernels are dense with carbs and the weight for a given volume, in this case a semi trailer, is much heavier than with cellulose material, meaning less trips to the refinery to get the same gallons of ethanol.
Unless they plan to tightly bale the stuff I just don’t see how it’s going to be economic to go from corn to stalk for ethanol because of the increased hauling costs. I think something like concentrated sorghum syrup with water removed would be a better route to go for ethanol production.
We don't need to reinvent the wheel. Just drill.
In some respects this is a pretty good idea and very ingenuous.
Methanol/ethanol as fuel for motor vehicles is sort of foolish since ethanol/methanol don’t have the same energy content per unit as petroleum based fuels.
But there are many uses for these alcohols besides consumption. ;-)
The stalks could be ground up into small pieces and smashed into block forms.........
so if you have the cows eat the hybrid corn, do you get Premium out of ‘em
HO, HO, HO, a more efficient and faster way to make White Lightning.
How about mixed with a little lime juice, V-8?
==> “Wow... You mean cows turn plant stuff into methane? I never knew /sarc” <==
That’s nothing. You should hear (and smell) what I can do to a plate of beans....
An interesting bit of research. The question is whether it will ever produce a gallon of alcohol. Farmers will have to be convinced to grow the new corn and harvest the stalks and if and if..if..if.
It’s curious that nobody ever talks about using ethanol for home heating; it should work fine there and the lower energy density just means a bigger ‘heating oil’ tank or marginally more frequent fillups.
As far as this particular breakthrough is concerned, cellulosic ethanol ‘breakthroughs’ are getting to be as frequent as cancer ‘breakthroughs’. It remains to be seen where the “But...” is in this one, if there is a “But....”
Wouldn’t it make more sense to insert that gene into switchgrass instead of corn???
Why bother with ethanol when you can burn the corn directly? If you burn kernel corn, you’re getting about 7,000 BTU/lb, which is on par with some softwoods’ heat density.
Best of all, you can set up a corn furnace just like a pellet stove or coal furnace - auger the fuel in automatically, on demand. No need for you to do anything other than have a truck of corn pull in, then take out the ash clinker every so often.
Very popular in some areas of the midwest.
Yes, but there’s more money available for corn research just now.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.