SUBMITTED SAMPLES FOR THE GREAT LAKES BIOENERGY CENTER

University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI

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Abstract

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. To increase the contribution of biofuels to the US energy portfolio, the Great Lakes Bioenergy Center (GLBRC) will conduct research to remove bottlenecks in the biofuel pipeline. This process involves improving characteristics of biomass plants, processing of plant biomass and improving how we convert biomass into energy products. In part to achieve these goals, the GLBRC will deploy high-throughput NMR based metabolomics to help develop models for relevant enzymes, pathways and networks that may be involved in biofuel production. Unlike fossil fuel, biofuel is produced mostly from photosynthetic plants, therefore it is a carbon neutral and sustainable energy form. How to efficiently breakdown lignocelluloses into fermentable carbohydrate monomers and oligomers is the bottleneck of economically producing cellulosic ethanol or other bioenergy products. We apply solution NMR to various switchgrass and their different fraction to monitor biomass content changes. Meanwhile, enzymatic hydrolysis is an efficient technique for depolymerization of plant material. We present a model of predicting the enzyme products of cornstalk by employing various 1D and 2D NMR combining with our MMCD database and R-NMR software techniques.