In Colorado State University, an interdisciplinary team of researchers has received a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study new ways to increase the productivity of the cultivation of photosynthetic bacteria towards sustainable production of biofuels and other targeted molecules.

The team composed of faculty members from the departments of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Biology will focus its research on cyanobacteria, blue-green bacteria that can convert carbon dioxide into hydrocarbons through photosynthesis. The team will engineer cyanobacteria to make it grow faster in a wide range of industrial conditions.

In addition, the CSU researchers will explore how exposure to light in a variety of settings affects the growth rate and yield of the bacteria; create computer models that predict the light exposure in specific cultivation systems; develop a method to efficiently harvest the cyanobacteria from the culture; and develop new life-cycle analysis approaches that will allow accurate modeling of the productivity of large-scale reactors.

The team will build small-scale models of different photobioreactor strategies in CSU labs to model the large-scale production reactors and research the physiological response of cyanobacteria to photobioreactor conditions.

A study published in the Journal of Plant Physiology by an international team of scientists has reported the possible physiological roles of two genes that help the biofuel plant Jatropha curcas become drought resistant. Jatropha is known for its oil-packed seeds that are potential source of biodiesel.

Researchers have thought that enhancing the ability of Jatropha to grow on marginal lands so that it does not compete with food production will further boost its potential for large-scale biofuel production. A team of scientists from South Korea, Denmark and USA have studied the physiological and molecular aspects of Jatropha's response to water stress.

The researchers examined two candidate genes for drought response – known as JcPIP1 and JcPIP2 – which code for cell membrane proteins called aquaporins. These proteins are responsible for transporting and balancing water throughout the plant. The research team have found that JcPIP1 and JcPIP2 are expressed at different times during a stressful situation, and they have hypothesized that these genes play a role in the early response to and recovery from drought stress.

Using virus to genetically modify Jatropha plants in which JcPIP1 or JcPIP2 was temporarily disabled, the researchers were able to confirm that both JcPIP1 and JcPIP2 have positive roles in response to water deficit stresses, but have antagonistic functions at the recovery stage, and both have potential as targets for genetic engineering.

In the United States, the Agriculture and Energy departments have announced $10 million grant for eight research projects aimed at applying biomass genomics to improve promising biofuel feedstocks and drive more efficient, cost-effective energy production.

These projects will use genetic mapping to advance sustainable biofuels production by analyzing and seeking to maximize genetic traits like feedstock durability, how tolerant feedstocks are to various environmental stresses, and the potential for feedstocks to be used in energy production.