Modification of lignin biosynthesis in sugarcane for the improved efficiency of pre-treatment in ethanol production. Sugarcane is one of Australia's most important rural industries. However, as a single product industry, declining sugar prices threaten the industry's long term economic sustainability unless alternative markets for sugarcane are created. Utilising the sugarcane waste for cellulosic ethanol would provide a new revenue stream, injecting life into the Australian sugarcane industry. ....Modification of lignin biosynthesis in sugarcane for the improved efficiency of pre-treatment in ethanol production. Sugarcane is one of Australia's most important rural industries. However, as a single product industry, declining sugar prices threaten the industry's long term economic sustainability unless alternative markets for sugarcane are created. Utilising the sugarcane waste for cellulosic ethanol would provide a new revenue stream, injecting life into the Australian sugarcane industry. In addition, cellulosic ethanol from sugarcane has the potential to substantially decrease the cost of biofuel production and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The research proposed here will advance our ability to improve sugarcane through biotechnology.Read moreRead less
Optimization of Transgene Expression in Sugarcane. Sugarcane is one of Australia's most important crops. However, worldwide competition and declining sugar prices threaten the long term economic sustainability of this industry unless alternative markets for sugarcane are created. Biotechnology holds the greatest promise for the development of an economically sustainable sugarcane industry through the production of varieties that can be used for cellulosic ethanol or as biofactories for high-valu ....Optimization of Transgene Expression in Sugarcane. Sugarcane is one of Australia's most important crops. However, worldwide competition and declining sugar prices threaten the long term economic sustainability of this industry unless alternative markets for sugarcane are created. Biotechnology holds the greatest promise for the development of an economically sustainable sugarcane industry through the production of varieties that can be used for cellulosic ethanol or as biofactories for high-value alternative products. In addition, cellulosic ethanol from sugarcane has the potential to substantially decrease the cost of biofuel production and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The research proposed here will advance our ability to improve sugarcane through biotechnology.Read moreRead less
Understanding and avoiding transgene silencing in sugarcane. Sugarcane is one of the world's major crops for food (sugar) and fuel (ethanol, electricity co-generation). It is one of the most appealing target crops for metabolic engineering aimed at renewable biomaterials and biofuels. Australia has invested strongly to achieve scientific leadership in gene technologies in our major export crops including sugarcane. Field tests show that development of methods to avoid unstable expression or 'sil ....Understanding and avoiding transgene silencing in sugarcane. Sugarcane is one of the world's major crops for food (sugar) and fuel (ethanol, electricity co-generation). It is one of the most appealing target crops for metabolic engineering aimed at renewable biomaterials and biofuels. Australia has invested strongly to achieve scientific leadership in gene technologies in our major export crops including sugarcane. Field tests show that development of methods to avoid unstable expression or 'silencing' of introduced genes is now a critical requirement for practical application. The current project emerges from industry recognition of the need to understand and avoid transgene silencing. The methods developed using sugarcane are expected to have rapid applicability for wider benefits in agriculture.Read moreRead less
Redirecting Carbon Flow through Mesophyll and Bundle Sheath Cells of Sugarcane to Produce Poly-3-Hydroxybutyrate. This project is part of the National Priorities "Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries." Using innovative plant metabolic engineering technologies combined with sophisticated computer modeling we are generating green plants that produce renewable, biodegradable, bioplastics possessing properties such that they are suitable replacements for petrol ....Redirecting Carbon Flow through Mesophyll and Bundle Sheath Cells of Sugarcane to Produce Poly-3-Hydroxybutyrate. This project is part of the National Priorities "Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries." Using innovative plant metabolic engineering technologies combined with sophisticated computer modeling we are generating green plants that produce renewable, biodegradable, bioplastics possessing properties such that they are suitable replacements for petroleum-derived products in many applications. During the course of these studies, we are increasing our basic level of understanding of plant metabolism of important bioenergy crops. The production of renewable, bioplastics in sugarcane will help to diversify the Australian sugarcane industry by providing a value-added product with significant world-wide markets.Read moreRead less