Title: In-planta expression of HT lignocellulose digesting enzymes: a green & economic strategy for advanced biofuel production

Abstract:

The growing demand for energy and concerns about Greenhouse gas emissions have stimulated a worldwide interest in the exploitation of lignocellulosic plant biomass, the most abundant renewable and low-cost organic raw material for production of biofuels and biomaterials. In planta expression of lignocellulose digesting enzymes is a promising approach to reduce the production costs associated with biomass pretreatments and enzymatic hydrolysis. However, this approach faces a number of challenges, including auto-hydrolysis of developing cell walls, plant growth and yield penalties, low expression levels and the limited stability of expressed enzymes at the high temperatures generally used for biomass processing to release fermentable sugars. In planta consolidated bioprocessing using hyperthermophilic (HT) lignocellulose-degrading enzymes is a promising strategy for conversion of lignocellulose into fermentable sugars because these enzymes will continue to function during the ‘heat-up’ phase of a steam explosion process used for lignocellulose pretreatment. The high level functional expression of recombinant HT enzymes in bioenergy feed-stocks could reduce, or even obviate, the need for exogenous enzyme additions prior to fermentation, substantially reducing the cost of the complete processing operation.

Biography:

Marc A. Rosen is a Professor at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa, Canada, where he served as founding Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science. Dr. Rosen was President of the Engineering Institute of Canada. He is a registered Professional Engineer in Ontario, and serves as Editor-in-Chief of several journals and as a Director of Oshawa Power and Utilities Corporation. With over 60 research grants and contracts and 800 publications, Dr. Rosen is an active teacher and researcher in sustainable energy, environmental impact, and energy technology (including renewable energy and efficiency improvement). Much of his research has been carried out for industry, and he has written numerous books. Dr. Rosen has worked for such organizations as Imatra Power Company in Finland, Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago, and the Institute for Hydrogen Systems near Toronto. Dr. Rosen has received numerous awards and honors, and is a fellow of several societies and organizations.