Plant discovery could spur biofuel production
Michigan State University scientists have identified a protein required for photosynthesis that could ultimately lead to plants designed for biofuel production.
Professor Christoph Benning and other MSU researchers discovered the protein that is necessary for development of chloroplasts -- the machinery of photosynthesis, which uses light and energy to convert carbon dioxide into carbohydrates for plant food and oxygen.
Plants that have a faulty version of the protein die before producing seeds and are unhealthy. But instead of sending oil to the seeds, they send it to the leaves of the plant, which could help produce much more oil for biofuel.
Much more research will be needed to be able to take a healthy plant and then turn on the mechanism with the faulty protein to put oil in the leaves, said Benning, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology.
"The way we can apply this is to use the knowledge to increase or make oil in tissues that don't ordinarily make oil. We could get more oil per acre," he said in a phone interview.
"It needs to be engineered, but that is the basic idea. Hopefully the leaves can fill up with oil."
Crops such as corn, soybeans and canola accumulate oil in seeds and don't currently make enough oil to meet biofuel needs, he said.
Benning also is a member of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, a partnership between the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Michigan State funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to conduct research aimed at solving problems in converting natural materials to energy. However, the research that identified the protein -- published in the August issue of The Plant Cell -- was funded separately by the DOE and the National Science Foundation. Benning's research also is supported by the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station.
UW-Madison professor Timothy Donohue, who heads the Great Lakes center, said the discovery is vital. "It is critical to understand chloroplast development," he said, since chloroplasts "act as the solar gathering panels of plant cells that are used to drive carbon fixation into cellulose, oils or other potential next generation plant biofuel feedstocks."
