SBIR Phase I: Development of Novel, Inducible Processing Traits in Corn for Ethanol Production

SBIR 第一阶段：开发用于乙醇生产的玉米新型诱导加工特性

• 批准号: 0610969
• 负责人: Humberto De La Vega
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Agrivida, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-07-01 至 2007-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0610969&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Development; Novel; Inducible

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I research project will produce corn with processing traits optimized for ethanol production. The corn will be modified by embedding inactive amylase enzymes into the crop that can be activated during processing steps. The polysaccharide degrading activity of the enzymes can be switched on after harvest, resulting in controllable, accelerated liquefaction and saccharification of corn to fermentable sugars without additional enzymes, thereby lowering the cost of ethanol production. Producers currently buy enzymes for ethanol conversion, and reducing this cost in a commodity market would have a significant impact. Additionally, this will demonstrate the feasibility of embedding lignocellulosic degrading enzymes into biomass, a step to further the development of a cellulosic ethanol industry.Commerically, the technology will lead to the production of varieties of corn which contain modified amylase and glucoamylase enzymes to streamline the liquefaction and saccharification steps required for ethanol production. These new corn varieties would create over $350MM /yr in value for ethanol producers through increased yields of fermentable sugars from corn grain and decreased operating costs. More importantly, long term views for the ethanol industry predict a shift to using lignocellulosic biomass as a feedstock. By embedding enzymes into the lignocellulosic material itself, the cost of degrading the biomass for ethanol conversion could be greatly reduced, enabling the use of an inexpensive and abundant source for ethanol production. This would have the social and environmental benefits of increased rural development, decreased greenhouse gas emissions, and reduced reliance on foreign oil imports.

该小型企业创新研究 (SBIR) 第一阶段研究项目将生产具有针对乙醇生产优化的加工特性的玉米。通过将无活性的淀粉酶嵌入作物中，可以在加工步骤中激活这些酶，从而对玉米进行改造。酶的多糖降解活性可以在收获后开启，从而在不添加酶的情况下可控地加速玉米液化和糖化为可发酵糖，从而降低乙醇生产成本。 生产商目前购买酶用于乙醇转化，降低商品市场的成本将产生重大影响。此外，这将证明将木质纤维素降解酶嵌入生物质中的可行性，这是进一步发展纤维素乙醇工业的一步。在商业上，该技术将导致生产含有改性淀粉酶和葡糖淀粉酶的玉米品种，以简化乙醇生产所需的液化和糖化步骤。 通过提高玉米粒中可发酵糖的产量并降低运营成本，这些新玉米品种每年将为乙醇生产商创造超过 350MM 美元的价值。更重要的是，从长远来看，乙醇行业预计将转向使用木质纤维素生物质作为原料。通过将酶嵌入木质纤维素材料本身，可以大大降低降解生物质以进行乙醇转化的成本，从而能够使用廉价且丰富的来源来生产乙醇。这将带来促进农村发展、减少温室气体排放以及减少对外国石油进口的依赖等社会和环境效益。