Genetic approaches will aid development of higher biomass-yielding, sustainable trees for bioenergy feedstocks
Friday, July 1, 2016 - 08:21
in Mathematics & Economics
Large, fast-growing poplar trees and other woody plants are desirable starting points, or feedstocks, for producing transportation fuels. The challenge is that the wood-forming materials resist chemical breakdown. Overcoming this recalcitrance is a main goal in bioenergy feedstocks research. Scientists took on this challenge by examining how gene regulatory networks control a plant's resistance to breakdown. They developed two new methods to understand the recalcitrance of woody material.