Research Highlights
Great Lakes Bioenergy researchers and collaborators engineered softwoods to incorporate a key feature of hardwoods. The resulting pine (shown here) processes more easily into pulp and paper.
Great Lakes Bioenergy research consistently results in new discoveries and new technologies. Here, we highlight high-impact research from all three of our research areas.
Poplar root-associated microbial communities are influenced by soil and plant genotype
Researchers at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center were able to determine and separate the impacts of plant genotype and soil properties on the fungal and bacterial community in the poplar rhizobiome.
Xylose fermentation by yeast requires rewired cellular signaling
Researchers at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin–Madison investigated a series of yeast strains with varying abilities to ferment xylose anaerobically in order to explore the underlying physiological mechanisms that enable the evolved strains to convert xylose into biofuels.
Lipid droplets engineered for the production of terpenoids in plant leaves
Anchoring of biosynthetic enzymes onto the lipid droplet surface results in enhanced terpenoid production and sequestration.
Survey of fungal genomes reveals functional adaptation of a set of borrowed bacterial genes
Scientists at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and collaborators at several other institutions combined phylogenetic, mRNA expression, and biochemical analyses to provide compelling new evidence that eukaryotes can acquire new traits via the horizontal transfer of operons from free-living bacteria.
Microbial stress responses may guide efforts to engineer bioproduct synthesis
Researchers at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) investigated how a prolific ethanol-producing microbe, Zymomonas mobilis, regulates its synthesis of a broad class of industrially relevant molecules called isoprenoids. The work identifies several enzymes that help the microbe overcome the rate-limiting steps in the methyl erythritol-4-phosphate (MEP) isoprenoid biosynthesis pathway.
Biological funneling of aromatics from chemically depolymerized lignin produces a desirable chemical product
Scientists at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center engineered Novosphingobium aromaticivorans DSM12444 to convert multiple lignin-derived aromatics into a single chemical called 2-pyrone-4,6-dicarboxylic acid (PDC), a potential precursor for making polyester, epoxy adhesives, and other bioplastics.
Lipid-producing sorghum as a source of biodiesel
GLBRC scientists have developed a process model demonstrating that engineering energy sorghum for lipid production would increase the crop’s value as a bioenergy feedstock. Technoeconomic analysis reveals that engineering the plant to produce lipid content allows for refining into biodiesel.
New biosensor highlights candidate microbes for biofuel production
New research from the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) unveils a genetically encoded biosensor that triggers green fluorescence in cells with high NADH levels, enabling rapid identification of the strains best primed for biofuel production.
Enzyme structures help connect sequences to substrate specificity
Turning bioenergy crops into fuels and other products requires breaking down the complex mixture of polysaccharides found in plant material. Glycoside hydrolase family 5 (GH5) is a large and diverse family of enzymes able to digest a wide range of polysaccharides. Researchers at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) described the functional diversity of members of a GH5 subfamily to explore the structural origins of their broad substrate specificity, a step toward engineering better enzymes for converting biomass into biofuels and other specialty bioproducts.
Discovery of a new type of bacterial enzyme able to cleave bonds in lignin
Characterizing microbial strategies for lignin breakdown is important for understanding plant biomass turnover in nature, and could aid in developing industrial systems for producing commodity chemicals from this abundant renewable resource. In this report, Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center researchers provide new information on the pathway used by sphingomonad bacteria to cleave the β-aryl ether bond commonly found in lignin. Specifically, they report on a previously uncharacterized heterodimeric β-etherase enzyme, with unique properties, from Novosphingobium aromaticivorans and other sphingomonads.
