By using cellulosic plant materials we get around the problem of food-versus-fuel scenario that is problematic when using corn as a basis for bioethanol.
- Paul Dupree
Scientists have identified new steps in the way plants produce cellulose, the component of plant cell walls that provides strength, and forms insoluble fibre in the human diet.
The findings could lead to improved production of cellulose and guide plant breeding for specific uses such as wood products and ethanol fuel, which are sustainable alternatives to fossil fuel-based products.
Published in the journal Nature Communications, the work was conducted by an international team of scientists, led by the University of Cambridge and the University of Melbourne.
"Our research identified several proteins that are essential in the assembly of the protein machinery that makes cellulose", said Melbourne's Prof Staffan Persson.
“We found that these assembly factors control how much cellulose is made, and so plants without them can not produce cellulose very well and the defect substantially impairs plant biomass production. The ultimate aim of this research would be breed plants that have altered activity of these proteins so that cellulose production can be improved for the range of applications that use cellulose including paper, timber and ethanol fuels."
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Image:Arabidopsis seeds exude slime that is attached to the seed by cellulose. On the left is a seed with normal slime stained pink, but on the right, in the stello mutant, the slime is lost because the cellulose is missing.
Credit: Nino Nikolovski and Paul Dupree
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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