Development of crops for biofuel processing

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Plant biomass is a potentially important renewable resource for the production of products such as biofuels. This is because plant biomass is composed primarily of cell walls, which are themselves rich in sugars that can be easily fermented to alcohols. In order to make biomass conversion cost-effective, concerted efforts need to be made to make the cell wall material more amenable to fuel conversion. Progress will be made when additional information regarding how cell walls are assembled and how their structure influences downstream processing is known. The proposed research aims to identify useful plant gene targets that, when modified, will lead to significant improvements in biomass processing. We will achieve this by using state of the art genetic screening methods and molecular biology techniques. Our approach will also include the isolation of microorganisms that can efficiently convert the modified plant biomass; establishing a unique complementary plant-microbe approach for biomass conversion. We have already established that altered cell wall structure can lead to improved biomass conversion characteristics and that various soil microbes have the ability to differentially convert plant biomass into desirable end products. The success of our research program will position Canada as a strong player in this emerging market. Products derived from plant biomass have the potential to improve the sustainability of Canada's natural resources and environmental quality. In particular, it is expected that by offsetting fossil fuel use and their related emissions, these products will contribute to cleaner air and water.