One of the biggest barriers in the commercial production of sustainable biofuels is to cost-effectively break down the bioenergy crops into sugars that can then be converted into fuel. To reduce this barrier, bioenergy researchers ...
Cell & Microbiology
May 26, 2017
0
47
When people hear about prospecting, they might imagine old forty-niners (miners) with pickaxes hunting for gold, or maybe an agent for the San Francisco 49ers (football team) scouting for new talent. In my lab we do another ...
Biotechnology
Apr 24, 2017
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21
Researchers at ETH Zurich have produced starch in yeast—the first time this has been achieved in a non-plant organism. The new model system now makes it easier for them to investigate how starch is formed and what role ...
Biotechnology
Nov 23, 2016
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4
Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis isolated an enzyme that controls the levels of two plant hormones simultaneously, linking the molecular pathways for growth and defense.
Biotechnology
Nov 23, 2016
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13
Life has always played by its own set of molecular rules. From the biochemistry behind the first cells, evolution has constructed wonders like hard bone, rough bark and plant enzymes that harvest light to make food.
Nanophysics
Oct 4, 2016
0
32
Plant cell walls are comprised of many complex polymers that require multiple different enzymes to fully break down, such as cellulase to digest cellulose and xylanase to digest xylan. For decades scientists thought only ...
Biotechnology
Mar 10, 2016
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44
Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have shown for the first time that an enzyme can be tweaked to reduce lignin in plants. Their technique could help lower ...
Biotechnology
Feb 24, 2016
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50
Nature's figured it out already, how to best break down food into fuel. Now scientists have caught up, showing that fungi found in the guts of goats, horses and sheep could help fill up your gas tank too.
Biotechnology
Feb 18, 2016
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211
Filamentous fungi produce powerful enzymes that break down tough plant material that can be used for biofuels and other industrial processes. But the enzymes often work too slowly for industrial use and the fungi are difficult ...
Biotechnology
Aug 26, 2015
0
61
Researchers will genetically modify tobacco plants to produce enzymes that can break down biomass from forest raw materials. This may lead to a more effective, economic and sustainable production of biofuels.
Biotechnology
Apr 14, 2015
0
32
