Newly-engineered enzymes can make plants produce more biofuels

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Because the carbon dioxide released during combustion is nearly equal to the CO2 absorbed during the growth of the source material, biofuels are regarded as renewable energy sources and are very high in demand. As such, finding new and efficient ways to produce them is a key endeavor of many researchers.

Liu has been addressing this issue with artificially produced enzymes known as monolignol 4-O-methyltransferases for almost 15 years. MOMTs have the unique ability to alter monolignols which are the main components of the polymer responsible for a plant’s structure called lignin. Toying with lignin and reducing its presence in plants makes sugars more accessible as the component’s complex structure can impede the efficient extraction of sugars from cellulose and hemicellulose.

“The complexity of grass plant cell walls made us curious as to whether our enzymes would improve sugar recovery,” noted Liu. “We wanted to know if MOMTs could modify the grass cell walls in a way that would provide access to the biomass.”The researchers found that, compared to unmodified plants, they were able to extract up to 30 percent more sugar from plants expressing MOMT because these plants had less lignin in their cell walls.

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