Research Initiation Award - Cellulosic Ethanol Production from Major Feedstocks: Insights from Yeast Transcriptomics

历史黑人学院和大学-本科项目(HBCU-UP)研究启动奖(RIA)为HBCU的STEM初级教员提供支持，他们开始建立研究项目，以及为职业生涯中期可能在担任行政职位后重返教职队伍或需要重新定向和重建研究项目的教师提供支持。教职员工可以在他们的家乡机构、NSF资助的中心、研究密集型机构或国家实验室进行研究。RIA项目有望帮助教师进一步提高研究能力和效率，改善其所在机构的研究和教学，并让本科生参与研究体验。在国家科学基金会的支持下，阿尔康州立大学(ASU)将进行研究，旨在了解从主要原料中生产纤维素乙醇。这项研究将用于加强亚利桑那州立大学的教与学，因此，PI将获得酵母转录方面的实践培训，PI希望将其用作优化其他生物制品生产的工具。阿尔科恩州立大学是一所授予少数族裔土地的机构，最近包括了一个专门的生物能源项目，以使其农业课程和研究组合多样化。这项研究将补充阿尔科恩州立大学正在进行的这些生物能源倡议。目前，阿尔康州立大学还没有从事“组学”研究的研究人员，这将确保阿尔康研究组合的扩大。研究和教育努力将有助于该大学实现增加STEM领域获得理科学士学位的少数族裔学生数量的目标。这个项目将允许PI将基因组研究纳入他未来的项目中，并允许学生获得实践研究和培训。从这项研究中获得的技能不仅将有助于学生为在纤维素乙醇和生物燃料研究领域的职业生涯做准备，而且将对他们的研究生教育和/或职业生涯具有价值。这项拟议研究的目标是描述酿酒酵母的转录组特征，并将其用作破译主要原料对整体乙醇生产的影响的指标。具体地说，该项目旨在对四种主要原料，即玉米秸秆、柳枝枝草、自由巨芒和杂交杨树的纤维素发酵进行酵母转录图谱分析。这项研究的结果将提供酿酒酵母在发酵过程中转录行为的蓝图。本研究对从酵母基因组学角度理解纤维素乙醇的生产具有重要意义，并为未来工业酵母菌株的开发或工程优化乙醇生产提供了基础数据。拟议的RIA研究将补充阿尔科恩州立大学正在进行的生物能源倡议。该项目将与堪萨斯州立大学合作进行。

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities-Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) Research Initiation Awards (RIAs) provide support to STEM junior faculty at HBCUs who are starting to build a research program, as well as for mid-career faculty who may have returned to the faculty ranks after holding an administrative post or who need to redirect and rebuild a research program. Faculty members may pursue research at their home institution, at an NSF-funded Center, at a research intensive institution or at a national laboratory. The RIA projects are expected to help further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness, to improve research and teaching at his or her home institution, and to involve undergraduate students in research experiences. With support from the National Science Foundation, Alcorn State University (ASU) will conduct research aimed at understanding cellulosic ethanol production from major feedstocks. This research will be used to enhance teaching and learning at ASU and thus, the PI will gain hands-on training in yeast transcriptomics which the PI expects to utilize as a tool in optimizing production of other bioproducts. Alcorn State University, a land-grant minority institution, recently included a dedicated bioenergy program to diversify its agriculture curriculum and research portfolio. This research will complement these ongoing bioenergy initiatives at Alcorn State University. Presently, Alcorn State does not have researchers engaged in "omics" research and this will ensure the expansion of Alcorn's research portfolio. The research and educational efforts will contribute to the University's goal to increase the number of minority students receiving BS degrees in STEM fields. This project will allow the PI to incorporate genomics research in his future projects and students to obtain hands-on research and training. The skills obtained from this research will not only help prepare students for careers in cellulosic ethanol and biofuel research but will be valuable for their graduate education and/or career. The goal of the proposed study is to characterize the transcriptome profile of S. cerevisiae and use it as a proxy to decode the impact of major feedstocks on overall ethanol production. Specifically, this project aims to conduct yeast transcriptomic profiling from cellulosic fermentation of four major feedstocks namely corn stover, switchgrass, Freedom Giant Miscanthus (FGM) and hybrid poplar. Results from this study will provide a blue-print of S. cerevisiae transcriptomic behavior during fermentation. This study has the potential to make significant contributions to understanding cellulosic ethanol production from the perspective of yeast genomics and provide baseline data for future development or engineering of industrial yeast strains for optimal ethanol production. The proposed RIA research will complement ongoing bioenergy initiatives at Alcorn State University. This project will be conducted in collaboration with Kansas State University.