Spartan corn has enzymes included

Breaking down cellulose and hemicellulose into simple sugars that can be fermented into ethanol has been a key challenge for biofuel producers. Now, enzymes must be added to chopped biomass. This makes the process and the final biofuel product more costly. The fact that the breakdown process also is difficult to do efficiently also increases costs.

MSU researchers Bruce Dale, professor of chemical engineering and materials science, and Mariam Sticklen, professor of crop and soil sciences, have found a way to make the corn plant do some of the work.

They've genetically engineered corn varieties to produce the enzymes needed to break down the cellulose and hemicellulose into simple sugars. It may be possible to release the enzymes from where they're stored in the plant and begin converting cellulose and hemicellulose to sugars without pretreatment. But it's more likely that fresh biomass will be processed and the liquid extract containing the enzymes will be added to pretreated biomass to produce sugars for fermentation. So far, MSU has created a corn variety that has high levels of one of the necessary cellulase enzymes in its leaves. This enzyme has been able to convert cellulose into the fermentable sugar glucose.

Engineering corn to produce cellulase enzymes will allow for more cost-effective, efficient production of ethanol. This will lead to more competitive prices for consumers, as well as a wider variety of crop options for farmers.