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Boosting Galactan Sugars Could Boost Biofuel Production

By Guest PostDecember 23, 2012Environmentai oikawa, april liwanag, arabidopsis thaliana, atmosphere, berit ebert, berkeley lab, bioenergy fuel crops, biofuels, carbon neutral, carsten rautengarten, cellulosic biomass, denmark, diesel, emilie rennie, enzyme, ethanol, ferment, fuels, galactan, galactan synthase, galactose, gals1, gals2, gals3, gasoline, gt92 enzyme, gt92 proteins, henrik scheller, jet fuels, mads clausen, mathias andersen, mechanical stress, miscanthus, overexpressors, pentoses, plant cell walls, polymer, six carbon sugar, snowfall, switchgrass, technical university, wind, yeast, yves verhertbruggen, β galactan synthase

Collaboration at JBEI Identifies the First Enzyme Linked to Galactan Synthesis

Galactan is a polymer of galactose, a six-carbon sugar that can be readily fermented by yeast into ethanol and is a target of interest for researchers in advanced biofuels produced from cellulosic biomass. Now an international collaboration led by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) has identified the first enzyme capable of substantially boosting the amount of galactan in plant cell walls.

Unlike ethanol, advanced biofuels synthesized from the sugars in plant cells walls could replace gasoline, diesel and jet fuels on a gallon-for-gallon basis and be dropped into today’s engines and infrastructures with no modifications required. Also, adanced biofuels have the potential to be carbon-neutral, meaning they could be burned without adding excess carbon to the atmosphere. Among the key challenges to making advanced biofuels cost competitive is finding ways to maximize the amount of plant cell wall sugars that can be fermented into fuels. (more…)

Sticky Paper Offers Cheap, Easy Solution for Paper-Based Diagnostics

By Guest PostOctober 4, 2012Scienceacidity, antibodies, arthur yu, biological molecule, chemical trick, daniel ratner, diabetes, diagnostic, disease, divinyl sulfone, DNA, fluorescent ricin, galactose, george whitesides, global, harvard university, health research, immune system, industrial solvent, jing shang, malaria, medical test, nitrocellulose, oldest technology, paper, paper stick, paul yager, plain paper, poison, pregnancy test, protein, rodrigo andrade, sticky membrane, university, Washington, ziploc bag

A current focus in global health research is to make medical tests that are not just cheap, but virtually free. One such strategy is to start with paper – one of humanity’s oldest technologies – and build a device like a home-based pregnancy test that might work for malaria, diabetes or other diseases.

A University of Washington bioengineer recently developed a way to make regular paper stick to medically interesting molecules. The work produced a chemical trick to make paper-based diagnostics using plain paper, the kind found at office supply stores around the world. (more…)

New Tool Offers Unprecedented Access for Root Studies

By Guest PostDecember 25, 2011Scienceacidification, biofuels, brachypodium, carbon sequestration, cellular and subcellular level, charles darwin, darkness, david ehrhardt, essential mineral nutrients, foxtail millet, galactose, glucose, guido grossmann, matthias meier, mining companies, nutrient acquisition, optical sensors, plant brain, plant organs, plant physiology, plant roots, power of movement of plants, real-time, rene sit, root growth, root system, rootchip, roots, salinization, seedlings, soil, stephen quake, sugar, toxic, woei jiun guo, wolf frommer

Stanford, CA — Plant roots are fascinating plant organs – they not only anchor the plant, but are also the world’s most efficient mining companies. Roots live in darkness and direct the activities of the other organs, as well as interact with the surrounding environment. Charles Darwin posited in The Power of Movement of Plants that the root system acts as a plant’s brain.

Due to the difficulty of accessing root tissue in intact live plants, research of these hidden parts has always lagged behind research on the more visible parts of plants. But now: a new technology–developed jointly by Carnegie and Stanford University–could revolutionize root research. The findings will be published in the large-scale biology section of the December issue of The Plant Cell. (more…)

Tag Archives: galactose

Boosting Galactan Sugars Could Boost Biofuel Production

Sticky Paper Offers Cheap, Easy Solution for Paper-Based Diagnostics

New Tool Offers Unprecedented Access for Root Studies