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*STTR Project:  Cellulose Production and Increased Biomass in Multifunction Crop Plants—Edenspace Systems Corporation, 15100 Enterprise Court, Suite 100, Chantilly, VA  20151-1217; 703-961-8700, www.edenspace.com

Dr. Michael J. Blaylock, Principal Investigator, blaylock@edenspace.com

Mr. Bruce W. Ferguson, Business Official, ferguson@edenspace.com

DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-04ER86183

Amount:  $749,964

Research Institution

Michigan State University

East Lansing, MI

To increase the domestic supply of clean, renewable energy sources, the President’s National Energy Policy and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Strategic Plan contemplates the increased production of hydrogen as a fuel.  The production of hydrogen from plant biomass is especially attractive because it is a renewable energy resource and because it recycles atmospheric carbon dioxide.  However, new technologies and co-production opportunities are needed to reduce current costs.  This project will create new transgenic crop plants characterized by:  (1) greater biomass, (2) constitutive production of endoglucanase, hemicellulase, and ligninase (to aid the post-harvest hydrolysis of plant biomass to simple sugars), and (3) delayed flowering as a bioconfinement technique (to increase plant mass and prevent diffusion of transgenes).  In Phase I, proof-of-concept was demonstrated in tobacco by combining the Acidothermus cellulolyticus E1 endoglucanase gene with Arabidopsis Flowering Locus C (FLC) gene.  The transformed plants demonstrated 10% greater biomass, flowering delays averaging 15 days, excellent cellulose activity, and comparable phytoremediation performance, compared to control plants.  In addition, an E1-FLC construct was used to transform maize, which will be grown and tested in Phase II for bioenergy and phytoremediation applications.  Also in Phase II, enzyme genes will be added for hemicellulase and a ligninase, in order to increase the percentage of maize biomass that can be converted to biofuels.  A pilot demonstration for producing ethanol from transgenic corn stover will be conducted at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee:  The new plants should be useful for production of hydrogen and ethanol through hydrolysis of plant cellulose, particularly in co-production with an agriculture-based application such as phytoremediation.  The plants also should be useful in the production of low-cost celluloses for other industrial markets.