Popping the Cork on Biofuel Agriculture

October 19, 2009 by J. Bryan Lowder
Popping the Cork on Biofuel Agriculture

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These images show that seeds deficient in HHT (right), an enzyme needed to synthesize an important component of plant cell walls, are more permeable to a red dye than normal plant seeds (left). Controlling the level of this enzyme may offer scientists a new way to alter plant growth for improved biofuel production.

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have identified a novel enzyme responsible for the formation of suberin -- the woody, waxy, cell-wall substance found in cork. While effective at keeping wine inside a bottle, suberin's most important function in plants is to control water and nutrient transportation and keep pathogens out. Adjusting the permeability of plant tissues by genetically manipulating the expression of this enzyme could lead to easier agricultural production of crops used for biofuels.

The research, led by Brookhaven biologists Chang-Jun Liu and Jin-Ying Gou, will be published online in the the week of October 19, 2009.

Plants use different polymers in constructing cell walls, each with unique qualities essential for growth and survival. Suberin, the polymer analyzed in this study, is mostly located in the cell walls of seed and root systems. It moderates the substances that pass into the organism, acting as a barrier to harmful substances and microorganisms while facilitating the intake and storage of water and other nutrients.

"We sought to understand the synthesis of the 'wall-bound' phenolic component of different biopolymers, including this important suberin polymer, by identifying the enzymes responsible for their construction," said Liu. This information could eventually be used to modify plants for agricultural purposes, including improved biomass production. "Knowing which enzymes do what may allow the properties of polymers to be tailored for specific purposes through either plant breeding or genetic engineering," Liu explained.

In this experiment, Liu and colleagues analyzed a strain of Arabidopsis (a common experimental plant) that had been genetically modified to disrupt the expression of a gene that codes for an enzyme now known as hydroxyacid hydroxycinnamoyltransferase (HHT). Chemical analysis showed that "knocking out" the HHT gene led to a deficiency of suberin phenolics, indicating that HHT is the enzyme responsible for biosynthesis of the polymer. Liu and his colleagues then isolated the gene and expressed it in bacteria to further characterize its function.

The team also demonstrated that the HHT-deficient plants were much more permeable to salt in solution than their wild-type counterparts. This finding, together with the ubiquitous presence of suberin in plant root tissues that control water and salt uptake, suggests that suberin plays an important role in the adaptation of plants to their terrestrial habitats.

Harnessing the mechanism responsible for suberin production might therefore allow scientists to create crop breeds tailored to thrive in specific — even harsh — environments, an important milestone on the road toward economically efficient biofuel production.

"Identifying the key biosynthetic enzymes and understanding suberin production may be particularly important for growing plants on the marginal soils that have been proposed for use in farming bioenergy crops," Liu said.

For example, if certain breeds can be created that are more adept at absorbing and storing water and nutrients, the crops could be farmed in much drier climates — maybe even the desert. In addition, the team's finding that modifications in suberin phenolic production can alter plants' tolerance to salt suggests that the newly-identified gene might be used to generate crops able to grow under salty conditions.

These approaches to biofuel agriculture would leave more-fertile land open for food crops, helping to strike a much-needed balance between the nutrition and energy needs of the world.

Synergistic studies

Liu also studies the biosynthesis of lignin, the polymer mostly responsible for strength in plant cell walls. His work confirms that suberin polyphenolics and lignin — two structurally distinct but functionally relevant polymers — share the same biosynthetic precursors but are produced using different enzymes. A coordinated effort to modify both polymers could potentially make plants easier to digest for the production of biofuels, while, at the same time, redirecting photosynthetic carbon to improve carbon-sequestration efforts. Liu's group is currently engaged in proof-of-concept experiments to demonstrate this approach.

Source: Brookhaven National Laboratory (news : web)

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Sean_W
Oct 19, 2009

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Biofuels may actually be more useful as substitutes for chemical feedstocks which are currently derived from petroleum. Though it might be just as productive to investigate wild salt-tollerant species for biofuel agriculture. We have thousands of years of agricultural breeding done for food crops but little work has been done on breeding better biofuel plants. Mangrove trees grow in salt water and with thousands of kilometers of ocean adjacent desert land they are being looked at as an option for poor nations like Somalia to grow goat feed (Somalia is more dependant on livestock because of the poor agricultural conditions). More wealthy nations might use some of their coastal deserts for biomass to feed chemical industrial needs. Not having to ship the sourcs of ths feedstock chemical across the planet before even refining it into the initial ingredients in your process might be advantagous.
Sean_W
Oct 19, 2009

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I got much of the above info from a site called seawatergreening.com which also describes other benefits of using deep ocean water such as the nutrient content and how the low temperature can be used to condense fresh water from the air right at the roots of traditional land plants and that by keeping the roots cooler than the leaves it increases the efficiency of the nutrient exchange process between plant and soil. After you've cooled the roots and condensed water by piping the water through the fresh water plant beds you can us the nutrient rich salt water to grow salt tollerant plants. I suspect that if this is done in green houses you can recover the transpired air via dehumidifiers and add it to the fresh water supply.
LKD
Oct 20, 2009

Rank: 1 / 5 (1)
Please forgive me, but this story sounds like a horrible idea. I apologize for my own limited knowledge.

This reads like they are developing a plant version of AIDS. I have a general apprehension of anything genetically engineered, and this is no exception. Though I think that the ideas are lofty and good, the fact that just about nothing grows on an ocean coastline after a couple billion years should give researchers pause to reconsider spending their time working on desalination instead of forcing evolution.
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