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First Look At Complete Sorghum Genome May Usher In New Uses For Food And Fuel
September 24, 2013 Although sorghum lines underwent adaptation to be grown in temperate climates decades ago, a University of Illinois researcher said he and his team have completed the first comprehensive genomic analysis of the molecular changes behind that adaptation. Patrick Brown, an assistant professor in plant breeding and genetics, said having a complete characterization of the locations (loci) affecting specific traits will speed up the adaptation of sorghum and other related grasses to new production systems for both food and fuel. Brown is working on the project through the Energy Biosciences Institute at the U of I, hoping to use the sorghum findings as a launching pad for working with complex genomes of other feedstocks. The EBI provided the startup funding for the study. To adapt the drought-resistant, tropical sorghum to temperate climates, Brown explained that sorghum lines were converted over the years by selecting and crossing exotic lines with temperate-adapted lines to create lines that were photoperiod-insensitive for early maturity, as well as shorter plants that could be machine-harvested. “Surprisingly no one had ever really genotyped these lines to figure out what had happened when they were adapted,” Brown said. “Now that genotyping is cheap, you can get a lot of data for a modest investment.” Previous studies had looked at a specific genomic region or a smaller subset of these lines. “This is the first study to look at all of them. A previous paper had come out looking at a specific region of chromosome 6. What we did was not much more expensive, and we got a bigger picture that was completely technology enabled,” he said. The researchers used a new technique called genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) to map genetic differences in 1160 sorghum lines. Brown said GBS is a new technology developed in the last two years. Brown and his team, along with other researchers, have made refinements to the process. “Using GBS, we’re now able to cover the whole genome with some gaps in individual lines,” he said. While much improvement has been done for grain sorghum, Brown said little improvement has been done for sweet or bioenergy types. “Part of the reason for caring about all of that now is that up to this point sorghum has mostly been grown for grain. It’s pretty short stuff, doesn’t blow over on the windy high plains, and is really hardy. But now there is a lot of interest in using sorghum for other things, such as growing sweet sorghum in areas where they grow sugarcane, and growing biomass sorghum for bioenergy through combustion or cellulosic technology.” Getting a complete map of the traits researchers are most interested in — plant height and maturity — will help researchers unlock the diversity in the exotic lines and bring it into grain sorghum, Brown said. “We’ll be able to start moving forward. We’ll basically be able to breed all these sorghum types more easily and use the genes that we bred for in grain sorghum over the last hundred years and move them into sweet sorghum and biomass sorghum. We think that finding those genes is going to be critical,” he said. Even with this complete genetic map, Brown said the research is still not at the end point. “The case I always make is that over here we have grain sorghum, where we’ve done almost all the plant breeding, and where we’ve stacked the good genes. Over here we’ve got exotic sorghum, which hasn’t been improved at all, yet it’s where most of the genetic diversity is. For that genetic diversity to be useful to grain sorghum, we need to know where the genes are for height and maturity so we can bring in good diversity while keeping our grain sorghum short and early like we need it,” he said. On the other hand, Brown added that if improvements are to be made for sweet, forage, or biomass sorghum, researchers will need to bring in some of the genes from grain sorghum, for traits like seed quality or early-season vigor. “This is the general agronomic stuff we’ve been breeding for, not the genes for dwarfing and earliness. Most of this sorghum now goes to chicken feed or ethanol in the United States.” “We do have a collaboration with Markus Pauly, an EBI researcher at Berkeley who is looking at the composition of sorghum. But the bigger problem with biomass sorghum right now is the moisture content of the biomass. Unlike miscanthus or switchgrass, where you can go in and harvest in February when it’s pretty much bone dry, and all the nitrogen has already been moved back down underground, sorghum doesn’t work that way,” Brown said. Because biomass sorghum is grown annually, growing until frost comes, when it is harvested it has a high moisture content. “When we cut it down, there’s tons of biomass. I don’t know that there’s anything else that can match it in the area, but the biomass is really high moisture. For the existing cellulosic idea as it stands now, that is not very useful,” he said. “That’s one of the roadblocks to biomass sorghum right now,” he said. “Sweet sorghum, where you squeeze the sugary juice out like sugarcane, may be closer on the horizon. There is an ethanol plant starting up in southern Illinois that plans to use 25 percent sweet sorghum. “Right now, we’re using sorghum as a model –maybe we can find sorghum genes that we can also tinker with in miscanthus or sugarcane,” he said. Brown added that with genetic studies and improvements there are other value-added opportunities for sorghum grain. “It’s not quite as nutritious as corn, but researchers are looking at it as a way to combat obesity. They are looking at compounds that will prevent you from absorbing all the nutrition in your food in the small intestine,” he said. Another gene found shows that sorghum produces a huge amount of antioxidant in the outer layer of the grain. “It produces 10 times more antioxidant than blueberries. The yield of sorghum hybrids with those traits aren’t quite what they need to be yet. There is stuff to work out with all of this,” he said. Continue reading
UK Sets Solid Biomass Sustainability Standards
Taylor Scott International News Taylor Scott International Taylor Scott International, Taylor Scott Continue reading
VIASPACE and Maricopa Bio Crops Announce Giant King Grass Animal Feed Project in Arizona
By VIASPACE Inc. Published: Tuesday, Sep. 24, 2013 – 4:12 am WALNUT, Calif., Sept. 24, 2013 –/PRNewswire/ — VIASPACE Inc. (OTCQB: VSPC) today announced that the company has entered into a contract with Maricopa Bio Crops, LLC of Scottsdale, Arizona for a planned initial 4,500 acre Giant King Grass plantation to produce Giant King Grass hay for cattle feed in Arizona. Maricopa Bio Crops will grow and market the Giant King Grass under VIASPACE direction, and both companies will share the profits. The contract was signed on September 16, 2013 and VIASPACE received an initial payment from Maricopa. Mr. Patrick Sweeney, Founder and CEO of Maricopa Bio Crops and Syn Tawa Energy, LLC stated, “We are thrilled to be working with VIASPACE on this project. We have been carefully investigating bio crops in Arizona for both animal feed, and as dedicated energy crops for multiple biofuel projects that we are developing. Our Team has grown sorghum in Arizona as a baseline energy crop; however, Giant King Grass has a much higher yield and is a perennial crop that does not have to be replanted each year making it more financially efficient and profitable. We have access to irrigated plantation land in Arizona to grow bio crops and the climate is suitable to grow Giant King Grass.” Mr. Sweeney continued, “We met with VIASPACE CEO, Dr. Carl Kukkonen, in May and visited the Giant King Grass nursery in California. When Dr. Kukkonen showed us the high protein animal feed data and results, we became very excited. However, we wanted to independently test Giant King Grass in our laboratory. I personally cut the sample that we sent to our lab and it had 15.63% crude protein– even better than previous results. Our livestock nutritionist confirmed that Giant King Grass can be an important part of the diet of cattle and dairy cows. We concluded that Giant King Grass hay can provide a reliable and consistent source of quality forage feed for our customers at an attractive price. Arizona has 900,000 cattle and 130,000 dairy cows and this represents a very large market for us. We are in the process of formalizing an initial agreement with one of the largest beef cattle rancher’s in Arizona. Our phase one plan is to start with 4,500 acres to meet our obligations for our first customer of Giant King Grass and our goal is to triple that amount by expanding into two additional phases. We are currently in early discussions with multiple local Native American Tribes that could benefit tremendously by expanding their agricultural base with Giant King Grass. Moreover, our contract with VIASPACE also covers the potential future use of Giant King Grass for bio-refinery feedstock applications, as a backup feedstock source to our existing supplier” “VIASPACE is truly excited to kick off our animal feed business with Maricopa Bio Crops,” states CEO, Dr. Carl Kukkonen. “They have been careful and thorough in their due diligence and we have come up with a business contract that is a win-win for both of us. This is an important step forward for our company and we will work closely with Maricopa to make phase one of the project successful and to then expand into phases two and three.” Dr. Kevin Schewe, VIASPACE Chairman, commented, “I have been closely following our negotiations with Maricopa Bio Crops and am very pleased that we have formalized this partnership. Animal feed is another great application for Giant King Grass and for VIASPACE. On August 20, 2013, we released results of independent testing that showed when Giant King Grass is cut frequently at 4-5 foot tall, it is an excellent, high protein animal feed. The results have shown that Giant King Grass is much better than wheat straw, sorghum silage, corn straw, Bermuda grass or Sudan grass. It is very similar in nutritional value to oat hay. The largest applications are to use Giant King Grass to feed cattle and dairy cows which is exactly the plan in Arizona.” Dr. Schewe continued, “Historically, we have not disclosed projected revenue numbers for our anaerobic digestion and direct combustion power plant projects because of the financial complexity of these projects, competition reasons, and because of non-disclosure agreements. However, once we completed our own research and testing of Giant King Grass for animal feed, we knew that the enormous domestic and global animal feed market represented a major and immediate business opportunity for VIASPACE and its shareholders. With Maricopa, we have a developed an animal feed business model that estimates profit sharing revenues to VIASPACE of $1.3 million per year for the initial phase one project and we are planning two additional phases. More importantly, animal feed projects (and the associated revenues/profits) can be executed and implemented more quickly than power plant projects and can also be complementary to the overall plans for bioenergy and biofuel projects.” Dr. Schewe concluded, “I believe that VIASPACE has reached its tipping point and our project with Maricopa starts now. We will strive every day to be an excellent partner in this endeavor with Maricopa Bio Crops, and our doors have opened to the new line of animal feed business both here in the U.S. and abroad. We are working hard to move forward on all fronts to build endearing value for our shareholders.” About Syn Tawa Energy, LLC and Maricopa Bio Crops, LLC Syn Tawa Energy, LLC develops second generation Renewable Energy Refinery plants that combine a new, patented state-of-the-art, commercial scale, low emission cellulosic biomass gasifier with a highly efficient patented gas-to-diesel conversion system that generates premium sulfur free ASTM D-975 diesel fuel at a cost that is below first generation biodiesel and petroleum based diesel fuels. For more information go to www.syntawaenergy.com or contact Patrick Sweeney at 949-887-6111. Maricopa Bio Crops, LLC grows renewable bio crops for animal feed and as a feedstock for biomass to liquid fuels production. About VIASPACE Inc. VIASPACE grows renewable Giant King TM Grass as a low-carbon fuel for clean electricity generation; for environmentally friendly energy pellets; and as a feedstock for bio-methane production and for green cellulosic biofuels, biochemicals and biomaterials. Giant King Grass is a proprietary, high yield, dedicated biomass clean energy crop. Giant King Grass when it is cut frequently at 4 to 5 feet tall is also excellent animal feed. For more information, please go to www.VIASPACE.com or contact Dr. Jan Vandersande, Director of Communications, at 800-517-8050 or IR@VIASPACE.com. Safe Harbor Statement Information in this news release includes forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Such factors include, without limitation, risks outlined in our periodic filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012, and other factors over which VIASPACE has little or no control. SOURCE VIASPACE Inc. Read more here: http://www.sacbee.co…l#storylink=cpy Continue reading
