Associated Research Groups
Plant Systems Biology
Department of Plant Systems Biology - Ghent UniversityTechnologiepark 927
9052 Ghent
Belgium
Tel + 32 9 3313881
Fax + 32 9 3313809
Contact:
Tree Biotechnology group
The Tree Biotechnology Group, led by Prof. Wout Boerjan, is part of the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB). The research group aims to understand biological processes that are specific to or well pronounced in trees. More specifically, the laboratory focusses on lignification as an important aspect of wood formation, and on growth adaptation to seasons.
Wood is one of the largest sources of biomass in the world. With good management of wood plantations and by continuous reforestation efforts, it has been demonstrated that forests can provide a sustainable and renewable source of biomass. Wood can function as a solid biofuel if it is directly burned, but new technology is looking towards converting the wood to high value chemicals and to liquid biofuels such as bio-ethanol. Once cellulose is extracted, it can be converted chemically or enzymatically to glucose. Glucose can easily be fermented using yeasts. After distillation, this yields bio-ethanol. Since wood is one of the dominant sources of biomass on earth, glucose extraction from wood has fantastic potential.
The Composition of Wood
Wood is composed roughly out of 50 % cellulose, 25% hemicellulose and 25 % lignin. During wood formation, a matrix of cellulose microfibres is formed, after which the empty spaces between the microfibrils are filled in with an aromatic polymer called lignin. Cellulose is a polymer composed of glucose molecules. The lignin present in wood poses a major hurdle for extracting cellulose, and thus glucose. Cellulose present in wood of plants typically is present in a highly structured, compact and organized way, making it inaccessible for chemical as well as enzymatic degradation.
A few technical hurdles still hamper the utilizing tree wood as a source of glucose. Perhaps the most important one is releasing the cellulose fibers which are encapsulated in lignin and hemicellulose matrixes. Wood with a modified composition, may provide a major step forward in simplifying the treatment process. The potential of finding a cheap and simple way to extract the sugars in monomeric form the cellulose polymer has already attracted an enormous amount of interest. The potential benefits of the use of wood as a source of glucose, in addition to, or even in stead of using the traditional crops (sugarcane, sugar beats, …) are enormous.
Improving Wood Characteristics Wood Bio-Ethanol Production
After elucidating the biochemistry and the genetics of the wood synthesis process, the laboratory for tree biotechnology has been able to increase the wood quality for paper production by disabling specific enzymes in transgenic poplar.
Results have shown that it is feasible to alter the characteristics of wood in favor of industrial applications via genetic modification. One of the current foci of the ongoing research is establishing the factors that determine the suitability of wood for bio-ethanol production. The processing and cellulose extraction from transgenic poplar trees with reduced lignin content will provide the starting point for the development of an integrated approach for bio-ethanol production using wood biomass. This integrated approach, which is based on a multidisciplinary collaboration between several research laboratories, will focus on the optimalisation of the biomass quality for bio-ethanol production, but also on the enhancement of processing technology for this purpose. Poplar is used as experimental model because of the availability of many experimental tools, among which the genome sequence, and the breeding germplasm.
Links:
The International Populus Genome Consortium: Cellulose:Molecular Genetics Division
VIB, the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology, is a non-profit scientific research institute. Using advanced gene technology, VIB studies the functioning of the human body, plants and microorganisms. Within VIB, the Molecular Genetics Division focuses on a number of biology-driven projects aimed at understanding the molecular mechanism controlling growth and development of higher plants. Their ultimate goal is to understand the signalling pathways that control growth at the cellular and organismal level. Obviously, such complex processes require thousands of interacting genes and proteins that are governed by numerous regulatory circuits involving both intrinsic developmental signals and environmental cues.
By combining the lessons learnt from different experimental approaches, a global view is formed on the genetic networks that control plant growth, architecture and development. By applying this knowledge through specific genetic modification of plants, varieties can be obtained which have acquired new and useful properties. The ability of such plants to produce high-value compounds is at the basis of the ever-growing market of white and green biotechnology. Relying on plants instead of fossil resources contributes to the establishment of a sustainable economy that uses natural and thus renewable resources.
High Yield Energy Crops
Because the demand for biofuels will continue to increase, it is of paramount importance to develop new methods and technology to increase both the amount and the efficiency of primary production. Plant Systems Biology has amassed world-leading expertise in the field of plant biology, especially in relation to the model plant Arabidopsis. Rapeseed, the crop of choice for the production of vegetable oil and derived biodiesel is genetically very akin to Arabidopsis. The lessons learnt from Arabidopsis are therefore most likely directly applicable to the rapeseed plant.
Relying on the extensive body of knowledge on the genetics, biochemistry and systems biology of plants, the research group is exploring strategies to increase plant growth, seed production and qualitative aspects of the oil composition. In the framework of an extensive collaboration with multiple laboratories and research institutes, Plant Systems Biology aims to develop high yield energy-crops which will be able to sustain the ever increasing demand for biomass, both for applications in the field of industrial biotechnology and bio-energy production (eg. Biodiesel and bio-ethanol).
In a multidisciplinary collaboration, the expertise of different laboratories will be combined to develop integrated solutions encompassing all stages from biomass production, processing and refining, up to the finished product.