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    Tasmania's first specialty biodiesel plant has been approved, to start operating as early as July. The Macquarie Oil Company will spend half a million dollars on a specially designed facility in Cressy, in Tasmania's Northern Midlands. The plant will produce more than five million litres of fuel each year for the transport and marine industries. A unique blend of feed stock, including poppy seed, is expected to make it more viable than most operations. ABC Rural - February 25, 2007.

    The 16th European Biomass Conference & Exhibition - From Research to Industry and Markets - will be held from 2nd to 6th June 2008, at the Convention and Exhibition Centre of FeriaValencia, Spain. Early bird fee registration ends 18th April 2008. European Biomass Conference & Exhibition - February 22, 2007.

    'Obesity Facts' – a new multidisciplinary journal for research and therapy published by Karger – was launched today as the official journal of the European Association for the Study of Obesity. The journal publishes articles covering all aspects of obesity, in particular epidemiology, etiology and pathogenesis, treatment, and the prevention of adiposity. As obesity is related to many disease processes, the journal is also dedicated to all topics pertaining to comorbidity and covers psychological and sociocultural aspects as well as influences of nutrition and exercise on body weight. Obesity is one of the world's most pressing health issues, expected to affect 700 million people by 2015. AlphaGalileo - February 21, 2007.

    A bioethanol plant with a capacity of 150 thousand tons per annum is to be constructed in Kuybishev, in the Novosibirsk region. Construction is to begin in 2009 with investments into the project estimated at €200 million. A 'wet' method of production will be used to make, in addition to bioethanol, gluten, fodder yeast and carbon dioxide for industrial use. The complex was developed by the Solev consulting company. FIS: Siberia - February 19, 2007.

    Sarnia-Lambton lands a $15million federal grant for biofuel innovation at the Western Ontario Research and Development Park. The funds come on top of a $10 million provincial grant. The "Bioindustrial Innovation Centre" project competed successfully against 110 other proposals for new research money. London Free Press - February 18, 2007.


    An organisation that has established a large Pongamia pinnata plantation on barren land owned by small & marginal farmers in Andhra Pradesh, India is looking for a biogas and CHP consultant to help research the use of de-oiled cake for the production of biogas. The organisation plans to set up a biogas plant of 20,000 cubic meter capacity and wants to use it for power generation. Contact us - February 15, 2007.

    The Andersons, Inc. and Marathon Oil Corporation today jointly announced ethanol production has begun at their 110-million gallon ethanol plant located in Greenville, Ohio. Along with the 110 million gallons of ethanol, the plant annually will produce 350,000 tons of distillers dried grains, an animal feed ingredient. Marathon Oil - February 14, 2007.

    Austrian bioenergy group Cycleenergy acquired controlling interest in Greenpower Projektentwicklungs GmbH, expanding its biomass operational portfolio by 16 MW to a total of 22 MW. In the transaction Cycleenergy took over 51% of the company and thereby formed a joint venture with Porr Infrastruktur GmbH, a subsidiary of Austrian construction company Porr AG. Greenpower operates two wood chip CHP facilities in Upper and Lower Austria, each with an electric capacity of 2 MW. The plants have been in operation since the middle of last year and consume more than 30,000 tonnes of wood chips and are expected to generate over €5 million in additional revenue. Cycleenergy - February 6, 2007.

    The 2008 edition of Bioenergy World Europe will take place in Verona, Italy, from 7 to 10 February. Gathering a broad range of international exhibitors covering gaseous, liquid and solid bioenergy, the event aims to offer participants the possibility of developing their business through meetings with professionals, thematic study tours and an international forum focusing on market and regulatory issues, as well as industry expertise. Bioenergy World Europe - February 5, 2007.

    The World GTL Summit will take place between 12 – 14th May 2008 in London. Key topics to be discussed include: the true value of Gas-to-Liquids (GTL) projects, well-to-wheels analyses of the GTL value chain; construction, logistics and procurement challenges; the future for small-scale Fischer-Tropsch (FT) projects; Technology, economics, politics and logistics of Coal-to-Liquids (CTL); latest Biomass-to-Liquids (BTL) commercialisation initiatives. CWC Exhibitions - February 4, 2007.

    The 4th Annual Brussels Climate Change Conference is announced for 26 - 27 February 2008. This joint CEPS/Epsilon conference will explore the key issues for a post-Kyoto agreement on climate change. The conference focuses on EU and global issues relating to global warming, and in particular looks at the following issues: - Post-2012 after Bali and before the Hokkaido G8 summit; Progress of EU integrated energy and climate package, burden-sharing renewables and technology; EU Emissions Trading Review with a focus on investment; Transport Climatepolicy.eu - January 28, 2007.

    Japan's Marubeni Corp. plans to begin importing a bioethanol compound from Brazil for use in biogasoline sold by petroleum wholesalers in Japan. The trading firm will import ETBE, which is synthesized from petroleum products and ethanol derived from sugar cane. The compound will be purchased from Brazilian petrochemical company Companhia Petroquimica do Sul and in February, Marubeni will supply 6,500 kilolitres of the ETBE, worth around US$7 million, to a biogasoline group made up of petroleum wholesalers. Wholesalers have been introducing biofuels since last April by mixing 7 per cent ETBE into gasoline. Plans call for 840 million liters of ETBE to be procured annually from domestic and foreign suppliers by 2010. Trading Markets - January 24, 2007.

    Toyota Tsusho Corp., Ohta Oil Mill Co. and Toyota Chemical Engineering Co., say it and two other firms have jointly developed a technology to produce biodiesel fuel at lower cost. Biodiesel is made by blending methanol into plant-derived oil. The new technology requires smaller amounts of methanol and alkali catalysts than conventional technologies. In addition, the new technology makes water removal facilities unnecessary. JCN Network - January 22, 2007.

    Finland's Metso Paper and SWISS COMBI - W. Kunz dryTec A.G. have entered a licence agreement for the SWISS COMBI belt dryer KUVO, which allows biomass to be dried in a low temperature environment and at high capacity, both for pulp & paper and bioenergy applications. Kauppalehti - January 22, 2007.


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Monday, February 25, 2008

First corn genome draft to be announced - consequences for bioenergy, food, climate change

The first draft of the corn genome sequence will be announced Thursday, Feb. 28, at the 50th Annual Maize Genetics Conference in Washington, D.C., and thus open a new era of corn research. The maize genome is notoriously complex, with twice as many genes as the human genome, lots of jumping genes, long pieces of repetitive code, and around 2.5 billion base pairs that make up the double helix of the plant's DNA. Cracking the code will open major avenues in research that could lead to the development of corn plants that sequester more carbon, yield more energy, are resilient to climate change and many other features. Insights into corn's genome might prove to be useful to the study of other grasses.

The implications
The draft of the corn genome provides plant scientists with a lot of data to work with. It is a lot like a collection of maps, diary entries, dried plants and animal specimens brought back by naturalists' expeditions: the raw material demands years of subsequent analysis and study and can yield surprising discoveries. One scientist said "this will enable so much exciting corn research. This will raise questions about the biology of corn and provide great tools to answer them."

Those answers could help scientists modify and improve corn plants. The genome, for example, could help scientists:
  • develop crops that can withstand global climate change
  • add nutritional value to grain
  • sequester more atmospheric carbon in agricultural soils
  • boost yields so crops can meet growing demands for food, feed, fiber and fuel
In addition, what scientists learn from the corn genome will allow them to better understand other grasses The genome of corn is very similar to the genomes of rice, wheat, sorghum, prairie grasses and turf grasses. Therefore, the draft of the corn genome can help researchers improve the other cereals and grasses.

Iowa State University researchers played an important role in this $32 million project. Patrick Schnable, a Baker Professor of Agronomy and director of the Center for Plant Genomics and the Center for Carbon Capturing Crops, and Srinivas Aluru, a Stanley Chair in Interdisciplinary Engineering and a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, led the work at Iowa State and provided the project with expertise in corn genomics and supercomputing.
Understanding the corn genome will accelerate efforts to develop crops that can meet society's growing needs for food, feed, fiber and fuel. This project is also a wonderful example of how Iowa State researchers are able to work across disciplines to solve problems important to Iowa and the world. - Gregory Geoffroy, Iowa State University's president
Earlier, Iowa State researchers and their U.S. Department of Agriculture collaborators already developed the B73 inbred corn line that was sequenced by the genome project. Created decades ago, the B73 line is noted for the high grain yields it contributes to hybrids. Derivatives of B73 are still widely used to produce many commercial hybrids:
:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

The overall corn genome project is led by Richard Wilson, the director of the Genome Sequencing Center at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He will make a brief announcement about the sequencing project and researchers will take questions during a news conference at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, in the Hoover Room of the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in downtown Washington. Wilson will also make remarks about the draft genome during a reception from 6:30-8 p.m. Thursday at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History on the National Mall. And Wilson will present a scientific talk about the draft genome at 8:35 p.m. Friday, Feb. 29, back at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel. Wilson's talk will describe the draft corn genome, explain the work needed to produce it and look ahead to the research that needs to be done to improve it.

The genome project also includes researchers at the University of Arizona in Tucson and the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. The $32 million, three-year research project is supported by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Supercomputing
Schnable and Aluru led Iowa State's work to refine assemblies of the genomic sequences generated by researchers at Washington University. In addition, they identified almost 100 genes which have nearly identical copies in the genome. Schnable said these nearly identical paralogs may have played important roles during the evolution and domestication of corn and may have contributed to the ability of breeders to mold this important crop species to meet human needs. The Schnable and Aluru teams also discovered several hundred new corn genes that are not present in other plants. Some of these genes may be responsible for unique attributes of corn.

The corn genome is an especially difficult jigsaw puzzle to put together, Schnable said. There are some 2.5 billion base pairs that make up the double helix of corn DNA. The corn genome also has long lines of repetitive code. And corn has 50,000 to 60,000 genes to identify and characterize. That's about twice the number of genes in humans. Plus, 50 percent or more of the corn genome is made up of transposons or jumping genes. Those are pieces of DNA that can move around the genome and change the function of genes.

Solving all those assembly challenges took a lot of computing power and some new software technology.

Aluru and his research team developed software called "PaCE" and "LTR_par" that runs on parallel computers -- including CyBlue, Iowa State's IBM Blue Gene/L supercomputer capable of 5.7 trillion calculations per second. PaCE can generate draft genome assemblies in hours or days instead of months. LTR_par identifies retrotransposons, another mobile genetic element that can cause genome changes such as mutations, gene duplications and chromosome rearrangements.

In addition to advancing our understanding of corn, the genome project has helped Iowa State launch several academic careers. As graduate students, Scott Emrich, Ananth Kalyanaraman and Sang-Duck Seo worked on the corn genome project. Emrich is now an assistant professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Ind.; Kalyanaraman is an assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Washington State University in Pullman; and Seo is an assistant professor of art at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

And so, Schnable said, the corn genome project has already been very useful. As researchers turn the first draft into new chapters describing their discoveries, he said it will be even more important to researchers and society.

Picture
: Several corn varieties are on display outside Patrick Schnable's Iowa State office. Credit: Iowa State University.

References:

Iowa State University: Iowa State researchers help piece together the corn genome's first draft - February 25, 2008.



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