WSU working on developing biofuels from oilseeds

Making aviation biofuels from non-food crops is the goal of a new Department of Energy-funded project that includes significant contributions from Washington State University.

WSU’s portion of the five-year, $12.8 million grant totals just over $1.1 million.  The grant is part of a larger DOE project that is providing $178 million to advance bioenergy technology.

The project will focus on pennycress and camelina because these plants do not compete with food crops—an important consideration when the global population is expected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050. These oilseeds are also resilient, with the ability to grow as winter cover crops or on marginal or underused land.

Pennycress and camelina oilseeds aren’t ideal precursors for bioproducts – yet. Their oil content is suboptimal – roughly 30% of their seed weight is oil, falling short of the 40% or more target – and they contain a less-than-ideal mixture of fatty acids. The team aims to change both characteristics.

The team will produce genetically enhanced seed oils. Using high-throughput camera-based phenotyping, the researchers will test the engineered crops under diverse environmental conditions and use that data to improve the new lines. Specialized biocontainment technology will ensure the plants’ genetic modifications do not escape into other crops or wild species.

The project will pave the way for wider use of oilseeds in environmentally friendly and sustainable applications. Cahoon expects the team’s work to have an impact beyond pennycress and camelina. Findings related to the plastid’s metabolic circuitry, as well as the synthetic biology tools, will be valuable to scientists pursuing next-generation engineering of other plant feedstocks.

In addition to WSU and Nebraska, the DOE grant includes investigators from the University of Colorado, Kansas State University, Montana State University, the University of Minnesota, the University of Missouri, and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center.