Scientists from the University of Central Florida (United States) report the use of plant-derived enzyme cocktails for the bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass to ethanol-fermentable sugars. Enzymes are usually used to degrade various polymers in plant biomass, and the use of "cocktails" enables a more broad-spectrum versatility for the degradation of a wide variety of plant-biomass feedstocks. For example, waste orange peels would need more of the pectinase enzyme, and wood would require more of the xylanase enzyme. The interesting point about the research is that enzyme production is "plant-based" (i.e., genes for the production of the enzymes are expressed in a cultivated plant). Traditionally, microorganisms have been used as workhorses for enzyme production. The research team, headed by Henry Daniell, cloned genes from wood-rotting fungi or bacteria and produced enzymes in tobacco plants. Tobacco was used as the model plant for the following reasons: (1) is it not a food crop, (2) it produces large amounts of energy per hectare, and (3) it provides an alternative use for the tobacco plant (i.e., smoking). Internationally renowned crop and soil scientist, Professor Mariam Sticklen says that "Dr. Henry Daniell's team's success in producing a combination of several cell wall degrading enzymes in plants using chloroplast transgenesis is a great achievement". The results of the research are published in the Plant Biotechnology Journal (URL above)..