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Affordable biofuels impossible without plant genetic engineering
DOI: 10.1038/nrg2336
Our only chance to make biofuel production affordable is to use plant genetic engineering, according to an article in Nature Reviews Genetics. Mariam Sticklen urges governments around the world to acknowledge the pressing need to develop these technologies — without such action biofuels will remain expensive and may even add to the environmental threat.
As supplies of fossil fuels dwindle and environmental concerns spiral, biofuels are among the front-runners for alternative energy sources. But producing them will prove to be prohibitively expensive in many countries.
Biofuels are generated by releasing the energy stored in plant cell walls. Unfortunately, this process involves enzymes that are produced from microbes at great expense in energy-hungry bioreactors. Genetic engineering promises to cut out this cost by getting plants to produce these enzymes within their cells, using sunlight as the source of energy. An even more important and promising route to cheaper biofuels is to genetically manipulate plants to produce more cell wall material and to make it easier to break down.
The article is part of a collection of articles on using genetics to tackle global challenges.
Author contact:
Mariam Sticklen (Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA)
Tel: +1 517 355 0271 x 113; E-mail: [email protected]
Editorial contact:
Louisa Flintoft (Chief Editor, Nature Reviews Genetics, London, UK)
Tel: +44 20 7843 4516; Email: [email protected]
Media contacts:
Ruth Francis (Head of Press, Nature London)
Tel: +44 20 7843 4562; E-mail: [email protected]
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