SBIR Phase I: Development of Novel Maize Bioenergy Plants Using the LignoLink Technology

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目采用了一种新方法来生产用于生物能源应用的改良玉米品种。纤维素生物质中的木质素形成了一个障碍，限制了纤维素转化为生物燃料。在提出的方法中，对作物品种中的木质素进行改性，以提高转化为液体燃料的能力。该公司先前在杂交杨树中演示了该方法。该公司现在已经生产了37个具有相同木质素修饰的转基因玉米品系。公司正在鉴定这些品系秸秆（玉米植株的非种子部分）的生物质组成，包括木质素含量、纤维素含量、半纤维素含量和蛋白质含量。该公司将对每个转基因品系的几株植物进行试验，通过温和的预处理方法将生物质转化为乙醇的效率。该公司还将利用温室收集的37个转基因玉米系与重要的玉米自交系杂交的种子进行田间试验。将田间种植的植株进行杂交，产生第三代种子，并对这些植株的饲料进行生物量含量和消化率分析。这些转基因玉米植株的秸秆有望提高纤维素的可提取性，并显著提高转化为乙醇的速度。该项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力将是为生物基产品工业开发新的、更具成本效益的玉米原料品种。该项目还将证明这种新的木质素改性技术在改善一年生和多年生作物生物能源原料方面的适用性。纤维素生物质提取糖用于生产生物燃料和生物产品是一个具有挑战性和昂贵的工程问题。预处理使生物燃料生产成本增加了20%，并可能成为新生物能源产业经济和环境可行性的限制因素。在Lignolink开发的木质素改性技术将通过使用更温和、更环保的预处理技术，增加生物质中的糖释放，从而提高生物燃料生产的商业可行性。改善生物质预处理和糖释放技术的市场潜力很大。通过提高生物质加工效率来降低生物燃料生产成本的能力将有助于确保生物燃料生产的盈利能力。玉米种植者将有一个新的秸秆市场，这可能超过第一代玉米种子生物燃料的市场。对生物质原料植物木质素改性新方法的科学和技术理解也将得到推进。

Intellectual MeritThis Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project takes a novel approach toproduce improved maize cultivars for bioenergy applications. Lignin in cellulosic biomass creates a barrier that limits conversion of cellulose into biofuels. In the proposed approach, the lignin in crop cultivars is modified to improve conversion to liquid fuels. The Company previously demonstrated the approach in hybrid poplar. The Company has now produced 37 transgenic maize lines with the same lignin modification. The Company is characterizing the biomass composition in the stover (non-seed portions of the maize plant) from these lines, including lignin content, cellulose content, hemi-cellulose content, and protein content. The Company will conduct tests on several plants from each transgenic line for efficiency of conversion of the biomass into ethanol by gentle pretreatment methods. The Company will also conduct field trials with seed collected in the greenhouse from the 37 transgenic maize lines crossed to important maize inbred lines. The field-grown plants will be crossed to generate third-generation seed, and the fodder of the plants analyzed for biomass content and digestibility. The stover of these transgenic maize plants is expected to have increased cellulose extractability and significantly higher rates of conversion to ethanol.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be the development of new, more cost-effective feedstock cultivars of maize for the bio-based products industry. This project will also demonstrate the applicability of this new lignin-modification technology for improving bioenergy feedstocks for both annual and perennial crops. The treatment of cellulosic biomass for sugar extraction for production of biofuels and bioproducts is a challenging and expensive engineering issue. Pretreatment adds as much as 20% to the cost of biofuel production, and can be a limiting factor for economic and environmental viability of the new bioenergy industry. The lignin modification technology developed at Lignolink will be shown to improve the commercial viability of biofuels production by increasing sugar release from biomass, using milder, more- environmentally-friendly pretreatment techniques. The market potential for technology that improves biomass for pretreatment and sugar release is large. The ability to decrease biofuels production costs by improving biomass processing efficiency will help ensure profitability in biofuels production. Corn growers will have a new market for stover, which may surpass the market for first generation biofuels from corn seed. Scientific and technological understanding of a novel means for lignin modification in biomass feedstock plants will also be advanced.