Producing ethanol from corn is relatively easy: the corn’s abundant sugars are readily fermented into alcohol. But using what is essentially a food crop to produce fuel has been criticized as a misuse of resources that can harm both agriculture and the environment.

Better, critics say, to make what is called cellulosic ethanol from leaves and stalks or other crop waste or nonfood crops like switchgrass. The process uses lignocellulose, the basic structural material of all plants and the most abundant organic compound on the planet.

But cellulosic ethanol is more difficult to make. The lignocellulose must first be broken down into sugars, which can then be fermented. Current techniques use costly enzymes or highly concentrated acids that are difficult to handle.

Now, Ronald T. Raines and Joseph B. Binder of the University of Wisconsin are proposing a different way. In a paper in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they describe a process that uses an ionic liquid — a salt with a low melting point — in combination with water and acids at lower concentrations to produce fermentable sugars.

The researchers found that water was the key to making the process efficient. Without water, the sugars produced by the action of the ionic liquid and the acid rapidly degraded into other compounds. But water keeps chloride ions in the salt from further reacting with the sugars.

The researchers say their process produces sugar yields approaching those obtained by enzymatic methods. While much work remains, they say the process may prove useful in converting agricultural waste to a useful fuel.

Note: Raines’ project was supported by The Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, a U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Research Center located at UW-Madison, as well as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship awarded to Binder.

CONTACT: Michael Sussman, 608-262-8608, msussman@wisc.edu; Richard Burgess, 608-263-2635, burgess@oncology.wisc.edu

MADISON – On Wednesday, March 10, the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus community and guests will join in celebrating 25 years of operation at the UW-Madison Biotechnology Center.

Formed when some people were frightened by the prospect of genetic engineering, the center has matured into an interdisciplinary hub of the Madison area’s growing biotech business.

Only three Madison-area companies were working in biotech back in 1985, says Dick Burgess, the center’s founding director. Now the area has more than 150 biotech firms, and the state is recognized as a premier site for biotechnology research and industry.

The center maintains close ties with industry and with scientists in many departments across campus, says current director Michael Sussman, a professor of biochemistry. One focus is providing analytical equipment. “We’ve developed a core facility for next-generation DNA sequencing,” Sussman says, which can gobble up DNA and spit out data on its structure at astonishing rates. “Other units on campus are starting to helping us procure these instruments and put them in the biotech center sequencing facility, where we can operate them for everyone on campus.”

The center can also analyze the proteins and small molecules whose structures and function that are encoded within the DNA and are critical links in the interaction between genes and environment that determine who we are.

Wisconsin has deep roots in biotechnologies such as farming and brewing, and Burgess was determined that the center address state problems from the first. One early project looked at “greener” ways to make paper pulp with fungus instead of synthetic chemicals. Nowadays, the center is helping analyze and alter the metabolism of microbes and crops to ease the conversion of their biomass into sugar and then biofuels.

A second ongoing focus has been education and outreach, says Burgess, now a professor emeritus of oncology. “We had to find ways of countering the negativism. We tried to provide a positive face to the science and the scientists who were doing biotech research at the university.”

Sussman says the biotech center has grown into an integral part of a university with unparalleled prowess in biology. “This campus is one of the greatest biological campuses on Earth. We have 750 tenured professors in biology, and probably a greater diversity, quality and quantity of biology research than at any place outside of the National Institutes of Health.”

As biotech advances, nagging uncertainty continues about the instructions passed down in genes. The first “reading” of the human genome, which occurred about a decade ago, produced more questions than answers, forcing a reassessment, for example, of large stretches of the genome that were once considered “junk” but actually control when genes operate.

The biotech center remains an asset for the broad range of biological scientists on campus. “I find it really exciting to help our faculty and staff do experiments; these analytical methods are opening a completely new way to figure out what biology is doing,” Sussman says. “We are getting fairly good at analyzing the role of DNA and RNA in disease, but why stop there? Let’s also look at the genes and the proteins, all of the small molecules involved in metabolism, all at once.”

The center’s effort to foster greater understanding of the beneficial role high-tech entrepreneurs has paid off. “In the middle 1980s, almost everyone being trained in Madison in biological science was going to the coasts; it was an incredible brain drain,” Burgess says. “Now there are thousands of jobs in the area, and we have attracted a lot of significant talent.”

The 25th anniversary celebration will be held from 2-4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 10, in Room 1111 of the Biotechnology Center, 425 Henry Mall.
###
- David Tenenbaum, 608-265-8549, djtenenb@wisc.edu

Contact: Jason A. Smith, communications director
jsmith@wisconsinacademy.org / 608-263-1692 ext. 21

MADISON—Did you know that 50 million new cars roll off the assembly line each
year—that’s 137,000 cars a day! If this current growth rate continues, there will be over
1 billion motor vehicles on the world’s roads by 2050. With retail gasoline prices on the
rise and a globally dwindling supply of petroleum, we need to find clean and plentiful
means of fuelling the cars of the future. Will Wisconsin’s pioneering efforts in
bioenergy—fuel derived from such renewable sources as plants, trees, and agricultural
waste—today transform the way we drive and live a generation from now?

Tim Donohue, UW–Madison professor of bacteriology and head of the
Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, discusses the growing field
of bioenergy in the forthcoming Academy Evenings presentation,
What’s Driving My Car? 2050 Biofuels and Other Sustainable Energy
Sources, as part of the Wisconsin Academy’s “Wisconsin 2050:
Pioneering the Future” series of public forums on the events that will
shape our state’s future.

This free Academy Evenings event will be held on March 16, 2010, from 7:00–8:30 pm, at the Madison Museum
of Contemporary Art lecture hall, Overture Center for the Arts in Madison. Seating is first-come, first served. Doors open at 6:15 pm.

The “Wisconsin 2050: Pioneering the Future” Academy Evenings series is sponsored
by the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation, Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation,
University of Wisconsin–Madison, M&I Bank, the Evjue Foundation, and Isthmus
Publishing Company.

About Academy Evenings
Academy Evenings engage the public in a wide variety of topics of public interest and
feature Wisconsin’s leading thinkers, scholars, and artists. These free forums are
intended to encourage public interaction with these leaders in an intimate atmosphere
designed to foster discussion and build community. The Wisconsin Academy of
Sciences, Arts and Letters sponsors Academy Evenings regularly in Overture Center
for the Arts in Madison and at other venues across the state. For more information on
Academy Evenings in your area, visit wisconsinacademy.org.

# # #

3/1/2010

CONTACT: Margaret Broeren, mbroeren@glbrc.wisc.edu, (608) 890-2168, Michael Casler, mdcasler@wisc.edu, (608) 890-0065

MADISON – The March issue of BioEnergy Research exclusively focuses on the U.S. Department of Energy-funded Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) and bioenergy research topics ranging from arthropods to cell walls to hydrogen and enzyme improvement.

This is the second of three special issues featuring work from the energy department’s Bioenergy Research Centers.

“This issue provides a snapshot of the diverse range of cutting-edge research within Great Lakes Bioenergy,” says Tim Donohue, GLBRC director and University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of bacteriology. “Readers curious about the latest advances in cellulosic biofuels research will certainly find something that piques their interest.”

The 11 journal articles showcase scientific collaborations at UW-Madison and Michigan State University in four broad research themes: improved biofuels feedstocks, improved conversion into advanced biofuels, sustainable biofuels landscapes, and improved cellulosic biomass processing. Open access to the March issue is available at http://ow.ly/1apjA.

Improved biofuels feedstocks: Committed to improving plant biomass for conversion to liquid fuels, Great Lakes Bioenergy researchers are working to increase energy-rich hydrocarbons in plant tissues and to create plant cell walls that are more easily broken down into their component sugars. Papers contributed by UW-Madison researchers Natalia de Leon, Michael Casler and Chris Schwartz provide a glimpse into the center’s attempts to capitalize on natural genetic mutations to create more suitable feedstocks and methods for deconstructing plant hydrocarbons into liquid fuels.

Improved conversion into advanced biofuels: Scientists are using a variety of natural genetic and genomic approaches to identify organisms and biological systems with unique properties that could increase the efficiency of converting biomass into biofuels. A research group led by UW-Madison engineer Dan Noguera is using a genetic mutant of Rhodobacter sphaeroides to study electron partitioning from nutrients into hydrogen gas.

Sustainable biofuels landscapes: One of the center’s core research areas focuses on the ensuring biological diversity across the agricultural landscape used for bioenergy feedstock production. MSU entomologist Doug Landis’ research group examines abundance and diversity of beneficial insects, including bees, beetles, and flies, in relation to species-richness of cellulosic biofuel crops, while a paper led by MSU microbial ecologist Ederson Jesus examines the mix of bacterial life that lies within the soil.

Improved cellulosic biomass processing: Developing efficient and economical biomass processing technologies will require significant improvements in the properties and combinations of enzymes used to convert plant biomass into liquid fuels. In a review, MSU researcher Goutami Banerjee and his team describe many of the current impediments to bioconversion and the Center’s approaches that include bioprospecting for superior key enzymes, protein engineering and high-level expression in plants. MSU scientist Dahai Gao reports research results of the combination of different enzymes, or enzyme cocktails, and their effect on bioconversion of maize stover.

Finally, the issue highlights high-throughput technology made possible by the center’s enabling technologies group. MSU researcher Nick Santoro describes a robotic platform that provides key measurements that allow researchers to rapidly characterize thousands of plant samples for important traits and bioconversion efficiencies.

About Great Lakes Bioenergy:

The Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) is one of three U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Research Centers funded to make transformational breakthroughs that will form the foundation of new cellulosic biofuels technology. The Center is led by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with Michigan State University as the major partner.  Additional scientific partners are DOE National Laboratories, other universities and a biotechnology company. For more information, visit http://www.glbrc.org.

About BioEnergy Research:

BioEnergy Research fills a void in the rapidly growing area of feedstock biology research related to biomass, biofuels, and bioenergy. The journal publishes a wide range of articles, including peer-reviewed scientific research, reviews, perspectives and commentary, industry news, and government policy updates. Its coverage brings together a uniquely broad combination of disciplines with a common focus on feedstock biology and science, related to biomass, biofeedstock, and bioenergy production. Open access to this issue is available at: http://ow.ly/1apjA

###

Engineers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on Thursday announced a discovery that advances the renewable-energy research aimed at converting corn stalks or switchgrass into jet fuel.

The research was published in this week’s issue of the journal Science.

One of the researchers involved in the project has a track record in development of renewable green transportation fuels, thanks to his involvement with earlier research that led to the formation of the Madison biofuels firm Virent Energy Systems Inc.

The engineers say this is one step toward making jet fuel from biomass feedstock such as corn stalks or switchgrass.

Work is now under way to develop the most efficient source for the compound, known as gamma-valerolactone, or GVL. GVL is currently used as an herbal food and perfume additive.

A chemical conversion process developed by engineer James Dumesic, professor of chemical and biological engineering, as well as postdoctoral researchers and graduate students at UW-Madison.

The findings will add to research that’s taking place in Madison and elsewhere to investigate renewable sources for transportation fuels. Read the full story

Washington, D.C – U.S. Department of Enery Secretary Steven Chu announced today that Dr. Karina Edmonds will join the Department of Energy as its new Technology Transfer Coordinator.  Dr. Edmonds will be responsible for working with the Department’s National Laboratories to accelerate the process of moving discoveries from the laboratory to the private sector, ensuring that America’s scientific leadership translates into new, high-paying jobs for America’s families. Dr. Edmonds is scheduled to join the Department starting in April 2010.

“I am pleased to have Karina join our team at the Department of Energy,” said Secretary Chu.  “Having Karina oversee a coordinated, strategic effort on behalf of the Department will help increase the rate of successful technology transfers, creating clean energy jobs and providing more solutions to our energy challenges.”

Created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, this is the first time that the Department has appointed a full-time person to fill this role.  An aeronautical engineer, Dr. Edmonds is presently the Director of Jet Propulsion Laboratory Technology Transfer at the California Institute of Technology.  In that position, she is responsible for licensing technologies developed at both JPL and Caltech to industry and start-ups, managing the JPL patent portfolio, assisting Caltech Start-ups and managing Caltech’s current patent filings. Dr. Edmonds will also be a featured guest speaker at the inaguaral ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit in to take place March 1-3, 2010 in Washington D.C.  The ARPA-E Summit will bring together leading members of the business and scientific communities to discuss their game-changing ideas for transforming the way we use and produce energy.

Dr. Edmonds is also a registered patent agent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

-DOE-

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If you missed the event, you can review the presentations on agronomy, economics, grassland ecology, and wildlife ecology here.

If you missed the event, you can review the presentations on agronomy, economics, grassland ecology, and wildlife ecology here.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has proposed new regulations for the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP), which is designed to boost production of non-food biomass crops for renewable energy. The new proposed rule was one of three measures to boost biofuels that were announced by President Obama on February 3. Authorized in 2008 by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act, BCAP provides incentive payments for those investing in new first-generation energy crops that can displace fossil fuels. The BCAP program has already begun to provide matching payments for the collection, harvest, storage, and transportation of biomass to eligible biomass conversion facilities. The new proposed rule terminates those payments and as of February 8, the USDA is no longer accepting applications for matching payments. The program will start up again when the final rule is in place.

BCAP funds two main activities, one of which provides up to two years of matching payments for eligible biomass materials sold to qualified biomass conversion facilities that produce heat, power, biobased products, or advanced biofuels. The new rule offers three potential options for structuring payments, all of which are aimed at reducing payments to facilities that already use biomass and providing incentives for new uses of biomass (see page 6285 of the Federal Register, or page 23 of the PDF file). BCAP will also provide payments to producers of eligible biomass crops for up to 75% of the cost of establishing the perennial crops, followed by annual payments for up to 15 years of crop production. These crops must be located in designated project areas, which can be proposed by biomass conversion facilities or by groups of biomass producers. Annual payments are limited to five years for annual crops and non-woody perennial crops.

The USDA intends to cap the cost of the BCAP program at $2.6 billion, including $2.1 billion for matching payments for biomass materials over the next four years, $306 million for crop establishment over the next three years, and $219 million for annual payments over the next 17 years. The funds come via the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) a government-owned and operated entity that was created to stabilize, support, and protect farm income and prices. The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on February 8 and is open to public comment until April 9. See the USDA press release, the BCAP Web site, the CCC Web site, and the proposed rule (PDF 185 KB). Download Adobe Reader.

The recently sequenced soybean genome opens new opportunities to grow human and animal food more sustainably, improve energy production, and bring environmental balance to agriculture worldwide.

Soybean is an interesting plant. It provides a valuable protein source for human and animal consumption, it is an important feedstock for biodiesel production, and it interacts with soil-borne bacteria (Rhizobia) that capture atmospheric nitrogen and store it in the soil, a beneficial side-effect utilized during crop rotation. In an effort to unlock the full power of this plant, scientists have sequenced the soybean genome.

“Most people are familiar with sequencing of the human genome,” begins Jeremy Schmutz, faculty scientist at Hudson Alpha Institute for Biotechnology, a partner laboratory with the DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI). “The soybean genome was sequenced to provide scientists a better understanding of plant productivity, complex biochemical pathways, such as oil production, and pest and pathogen resistance just like the human genome is helping scientists to understand human diseases.”

The scientific team, led by Schmutz, used a process called “whole genome shotgun” to sequence the entire genome as a single effort. “With this technique, we were able to sequence and order the genome at one time so the scientific community could go directly from the genome sequence to breeding new varieties of soybean” said Schmutz.

At first glance, the soybean genome is an impressive size – 1,115 mega -base pairs (Mbp) (1,115,000 base pairs) – about 1/3 the size of the human genome, which contains approximately 3,000 Mbp. But by plant standards, the soybean genome is relatively small and tractable for genomics research.

The soybean genome, like other plant genomes,   displays a feature called polyploidy. Schmutz explains, “During seed generation, whole regions of the genome can be duplicated. These duplications can infer a competitive advantage to the plant allowing it to thrive.”

	Dried soybean. Photo Credit – Holly McClain

Important traits, like oil production, require complex pathways. A duplication of a section of the genome can allow normal pathways to function, but a mutation may occur along a pathway in a duplicated portion of the genome. This mutation may be the key to giving the plant an added boost to survive and thrive.

The team determined that soybean underwent two large-scale genome duplication events approximately 59 and 13 million years ago.

The implications of the soybean genome sequence for energy and agriculture are enormous. The soybean genome will allow rapid identification of the underlying genetic basis of many soybean traits that are favored in traditional breeding programs. “The soybean genome sequence will help breeders and geneticists understand how they have tweaked the soybean genome during traditional breeding to impart higher oil production and disease resistance” said Schmutz.

The sequence is available in the public domain, which Schmutz hopes will promote scientific collaboration to improve soybean varieties and bring benefits to market faster. “Mining the soybean genome for pathways involved in triacylglycerol [oil] biosynthesis, for example, could prove beneficial in efforts to modify soybean oil composition or content” said Schmutz.

	The soybean. Photo Credit – Roy Kaltschmidt, LBNL

This research is already having an impact. Expressed plant traits have been associated with particular causal genes to develop soybean lines that improve an animal’s ability to digest soybean, reduce the concentration of phosphorus-rich compounds in animal excretion that are responsible for contamination of freshwater systems from agricultural runoff, and assist in the identification of resistance genes for devastating diseases, like Asian Soybean Rust, which will benefit the soybean production worldwide.

Finally, the draft genome sequence offers new opportunities to identify genes associated with increased biodiesel production, which may one day make the product a competitive alternative to gasoline.  The sequence may also provide opportunities to manipulate the plant’s ability to fix nitrogen to ensure soil fertility, especially for bioenergy crop sustainability.

Funding for the draft soybean genome sequence and analysis was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI), the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the United Soybean Board.  The project included collaborators from the University of Missouri, Purdue University, and a dozen other institutions.

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