I-Corps: Engineering biomass crops for increased yield

I-Corps：改造生物质作物以提高产量

• 批准号: 1547047
• 负责人: Samuel Hazen
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of Massachusetts Amherst
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-07-01 至 2015-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1547047&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Engineering; biomass; crops; increased

Although the U.S. now leads the world in oil and natural gas production, Americans continue to consume the most and import more petroleum-based fossil fuels than other countries. This reliance on oil has major sociopolitical and environmental effects, i.e., fluctuating gasoline prices, political instability in certain regions, and anthropogenic climate change. Due to these issues, the threat to U.S. national security is high. Thus, there is an urgent need to utilize renewable energies from sources produced here in the U.S. Plant biomass, the most abundant renewable material on Earth, serves as an attractive alternative to petroleum fuels. To meet U.S. energy needs, dedicated biomass energy crops such as sorghum, switchgrass, and miscanthus, must be improved. One approach is to genetically engineer these plants to produce traits leading to higher yields of liquid fuels. This I-Corps team has developed gene technologies that result in higher yielding biomass energy crops well suited for biofuel production. These technologies are ready for commercialization and the goal of this project is to help bring these products to market. Ultimately, this project will help to lessen U.S. dependence on petroleum fuels, cut foreign oil imports, reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with oil production and consumption and strengthen U.S. national security by helping to establish an alternative resource for U.S. energy needs. Globally, the need for renewable energy made from non-food plant biomass is increasing. Plant lignocellulosic biomass serves is an attractive alternative to the current corn grain and sugarcane feedstocks. Plant cell walls are composed of energy-rich polysaccharide polymers that can be saccharified to produce biofuels and many other bio-based products. This team proposes to test the commercial viability of its technologies through customer-based interviews for analyses of the U.S. biomass feedstock market. The team's goal is to meet with representatives from agricultural biotechnology firms to discuss their needs and discover how our technologies could help meet them. In addition, the team will gain better insight into the biofuels 'value chain' (from feedstock to fuel) to determine the best 'go-to-market' strategy for our gene technologies. Ultimately, the data collected from these interviews will be used to develop a business model towards commercialization of research.

尽管美国现在在石油和天然气生产方面领先世界，但美国人仍然是消费最多的国家，进口的石油基化石燃料比其他国家更多。这种对石油的依赖具有重大的社会政治和环境影响，即，汽油价格波动、某些地区的政治不稳定以及人为气候变化。由于这些问题，对美国国家安全的威胁很大。因此，迫切需要利用美国生产的可再生能源。植物生物质是地球上最丰富的可再生材料，是石油燃料的一种有吸引力的替代品。为了满足美国的能源需求，必须改进专用的生物质能源作物，如高粱、柳枝稷和芒草。一种方法是对这些植物进行基因工程改造，使其产生更高产量的液体燃料。这个I-Corps团队开发了基因技术，导致更高产量的生物质能源作物非常适合生物燃料生产。这些技术已经准备好商业化，该项目的目标是帮助将这些产品推向市场。 最终，该项目将有助于减少美国对石油燃料的依赖，减少外国石油进口，减少与石油生产和消费相关的温室气体排放，并通过帮助建立满足美国能源需求的替代资源来加强美国的国家安全。从全球来看，对非粮食植物生物质制成的可再生能源的需求正在增加。植物木质纤维素生物质是目前玉米谷物和甘蔗原料的有吸引力的替代品。植物细胞壁由富含能量的多糖聚合物组成，可以糖化以生产生物燃料和许多其他生物基产品。该团队建议通过基于客户的访谈来测试其技术的商业可行性，以分析美国生物质原料市场。该团队的目标是与农业生物技术公司的代表会面，讨论他们的需求，并了解我们的技术如何帮助满足这些需求。此外，该团队将更好地了解生物燃料的“价值链”（从原料到燃料），以确定我们基因技术的最佳“走向市场”战略。 最终，从这些访谈中收集的数据将用于开发一种商业模式，以实现研究的商业化。