News tagged with plant enzymes

Making nature's best better to produce biofuels

If a tree falls in the forest and there are no enzymes to digest it, does it break down?

Biology / Biotechnology

created Feb 01, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Moonlighting enzyme works double shift 24/7

A team of researchers led by Michigan State University has discovered an overachieving plant enzyme that works both the day and night shifts.

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Jan 31, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Dividing corn stover makes ethanol conversion more efficient

(PhysOrg.com) -- Not all parts of a corn stalk are equal, and they shouldn't be treated that way when creating cellulosic ethanol, say Purdue University researchers.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Oct 25, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers advance next generation biofuels by turning up the heat on biomass pretreatment processes

The nation's Renewable Fuels Standard calls for annual production of 36 billion gallons of biofuel by 2022. One of the biggest hurdles to achieving this goal lies in optimizing the multistep process involved ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Oct 02, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Pretreatment, proper harvest time boost ethanol from switchgrass

Adding a pretreatment step would allow producers to get more ethanol from switchgrass harvested in the fall, according to a Purdue University study.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Aug 31, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Learning secrets of world's most common organic compound driving research for biofuels

Preliminary research at Kansas State University may make a difference one day at the gas pump.

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Aug 23, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Cows may hold the key to greener fuels

Scientists in Scotland are turning to cows and the tiny organisms and enzymes found in their stomachs for a potential way to create industrial products such as biofuels from plant waste and plan to unveil their ideas at a ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Jul 29, 2011 | popularity 3.2 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | with audio podcast weblog

Team shows how the honey bee tolerates some synthetic pesticides

A new study reveals how enzymes in the honey bee gut detoxify pesticides commonly used to kill mites in the honey bee hive. This is the first study to tease out the precise molecular mechanisms that allow ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 20, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers find potential key for unlocking biomass energy

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory and Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center have found a potential key for unlocking the energy potential from non-edible biomass ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jul 20, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

First wood-digesting enzyme found in bacteria could boost biofuel production

(PhysOrg.com) -- University of Warwick researchers funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)-led Integrated Biorefining Research and Technology (IBTI) Club have identified an enzyme in bacteria ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Jun 09, 2011 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (5) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Same fungus, different strains

Fungi play key roles in nature and are valued for their great importance in industry. Consider citric acid, a key additive in several foods and pharmaceuticals produced on a large-scale basis for decades with ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 13, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Enzymes from garden compost could favour bioethanol production

Today, bioethanol is primarily made from glucose. If xylose -- which is found in straw, willow and other fast-growing plant species -- could also be used efficiently, then ethanol production could increase significantly. ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Mar 08, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Solving a traditional Chinese medicine mystery

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have discovered that a natural product isolated from a traditional Chinese medicinal plant commonly known as thunder god vine, or lei gong teng, and used for hundreds of ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Mar 03, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (10) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

How now, inside the cow: Nearly 30,000 novel enzymes for biofuel production improvements

Cows eat grass -- this has been observed for eons. From this fibrous diet consisting mainly of the tough to degrade plant cell wall materials cellulose and hemicellulose, substances of no nutritional value ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jan 27, 2011 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Resident bats use pitcher plant as toilet

(PhysOrg.com) -- The pitcher plants are carnivorous species that usually feed on insects and small vertebrates, but one species has been found that prefers to dine on the feces of bats.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jan 27, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (14) | comments 1 | with audio podcast report