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

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段研究项目将生产出加工特性最适合乙醇生产的玉米。玉米将通过在作物中嵌入非活性淀粉酶来进行修饰，这些酶可以在加工步骤中被激活。这些酶的多糖降解活性可以在收获后开启，导致玉米可控地加速液化和糖化成可发酵的糖，而不需要添加酶，从而降低了乙醇生产的成本。生产商目前购买用于乙醇转化的酶，在大宗商品市场上降低这一成本将产生重大影响。此外，这将证明将木质纤维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产业的一步。在商业上，这项技术将导致生产各种玉米，这些玉米含有改良的淀粉酶和糖淀粉酶，以简化生产乙醇所需的液化和糖化步骤。这些新的玉米品种将通过增加玉米粒可发酵糖的产量和降低运营成本，为乙醇生产商创造超过350 mm/年的价值。更重要的是，乙醇行业的长期观点预测，将转向使用木质纤维素生物质作为原料。通过将酶嵌入到木质纤维材料本身中，可以极大地降低降解生物质转化乙醇的成本，从而能够使用廉价而丰富的来源来生产乙醇。这将带来增加农村发展、减少温室气体排放和减少对外国石油进口的依赖所带来的社会和环境效益。

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.