University of Illinois Gets DOE Grant of $1.2 Million for Biofuel Feedstocks Research

University of Illinois has received a grant of $1.2 million from the U.S. DOE (Department of Energy).

The grant will be helping researchers in the University of Illinois towards accelerating genetic breeding programs for creating plants that are better suited for producing bioenergy.

The goal of the university is towards developing better and cheaper biofuels. This project will be exploring the possibilities of small RNAs that are involved in the process of controlling the quality and deposition of the lignocellulosic biomass found in grasses, particularly Miscanthus.

Only in recent years have researchers found the importance attached to small RNAs that play the role of the regulatory molecules towards controlling the composition, size and shape of biofuel crops. RNA molecules are involved in the transfer of both information and function from a genome to the remaining portion of the cell. The project is also hoping to find ways for using genetics towards altering the right balance of cellulose into lignin along with cellulose deposition.

The project has been titled as “The Role of Small RNA in Biomass Deposition and Perenniality in Andropogoneae Feedstocks” while utilizing the latest procedures in genome sequencing along with the equipment for profiling the genes as well as RNA molecules with the main focus on Miscanthus.