Studying Plants For Alternative Fuel Sources

Sep. 13 - KGO (KGO) -- In a quiet corner of Walnut Creek, scientists have the drive to discover a new way to fuel our cars. There's a lot of political will behind finding alternatives to oil, and there's scientific will to match.

To the trained eye, this is an instruction book. The book plants consult to know how to grow. It's called a genome and every living thing has one.

David Gilbert, Joint Genome Institute: "We're sequencing now the equivalent of a human genome in DNA a month at this facility."

The Joint Genome Institute, or JGI, in Walnut Creek, was created nine years ago as part of the Human Genome Project. Now, its working on plants. Plants that someday, will hopefully be converted into bio-fuels and end our dependence on oil.

Scientists want plant genomes to know how to grow them quickly and in enough quantities to replace oil.

Genomicist Dan Rokhsar leads JGI's plant research.

Dan Rokhsar, JGI genomicist: "We're trying to think broadly about how to make plants and make then more efficient for our use and then how to take them apart and convert them into fuels."

Ethanol can be used as an alternative fuel, a bio-fuel made from plants. The U.S. already makes about four billion gallons a year, mostly from corn. But it's expensive to produce. It takes more energy to make than what it provides and it uses the ear of the corn, the part we need for food.

So what else might work?

David Gilbert: "We also are sequencing soybean, sorgum, casaba, switchgrass and related wheat called bracapodium."

Sequencing means gene sequencing or finding out the genome, and the most promising plant being sequenced right now at JGI is the poplar tree. Poplars quickly and there is an environmentally sound way to convert them into ethanol.

Wouldn't you know, the termite. One type in particular, has enzymes in its innards that are extremely efficient at breaking down wood.

JGI microbial ecologist Phil Hugenholtz leads the termite research. He and his team have gone to Costa Rica to find the right termite and the unique enzymes in its digestive tract.

Phil Hugenholtz, JGI microbial ecologist: "It's a bit gruesome. You get some tweezers. Hold them by the head at one end and grab their butt with the other and you pull it. And nature has endowed a termite with the ability to pull out its entire digestive tract in one piece. We put them on ice first and play them some soothing music, then krrch!"

But hundreds of termites yield only a tiny amount of the enzymes.

With the termite's genome, the right genes could be cloned into other organisms, and the needed enzymes could be produced on an industrial scale.

Phil Hugenholtz: "We won't be running the cars directly on the termites, that's for sure."

President Bush has set a goal of replacing 30-percent of the nation's transportation fuels by the year 2030. The Department of Energy is about to invest $250 million to establish and operate two new bio-energy research centers.

Rokhsar says the 30-percent by 2030 goal is within reach.

Dan Rokhsar: "If you read the documents it actually makes sense. There's been an analysis of how much land one could use to plant these kinds of crops without a whole lot of improvement. With the kinds of things we can do on a five-year scale with this sort of investment, we can make that happen."

If it does, they'll be celebrating in Walnut Creek.

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