Bacterium named C. obsidiansis growing on crystalline cellulose
Image Credit: Jennifer Morrell-Falvey/ORNL
Generally, the idea of biofuels such as ethanol is to somehow break down starch crops into molecules that can be fermented into sugars. As I have blogged in the past, the economic and ecological benefit of corn ethanol is increasingly questionable.
But there is biomass that grows without expensive energy expenditures, but most of the biomass is trapped within cellulose instead of starch. Sawgrass for example, can yield 540 percent of the energy used to harvest it and process it into ethanol. The problem is that the enzymes that can break down the cellulose are costly.
(Recall that celluose is the structural component of the primary cell wall of green plants.)
ORNL explores proteins in Yellowstone bacteria for biofuel inspiration tells that Oak Ridge scientists have discovered the bacterium naturally breaks down cellulose in hot springs. Observation has revealed whenever the bacteria is upon sawgrass, it expresses a specific set of proteins tailored for breaking down the cellulose of that plant. This has helped the researchers identify the proteins and enzymes important to break down plant cell walls.
Although we are still years before we can dump in something like yeast into a batch of sawgrass and ferment it in a single step, the proteins and enzymes identified in this study, may someday be another piece of the nation's energy puzzle.
(And that by the way, is the message that Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu has articulate for Congress - All of the Above Energy Strategy. The strategy is to do whatever it takes to exploit and harvest ALL the energy sources available to the nation.)
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