Abstract
Biofuels hold the promise to replace an appreciable proportion of fossil fuels. Not only do they emit significantly lower amounts of greenhouse gases, they are much closer to being 'carbon neutral', since the source plants utilize carbon dioxide for their growth. In particular, second-generation lignocellulosic biofuels from agricultural wastes and non-food crops such as switchgrass promise sustainability and avoid diverting food crops to fuel. Currently, available lignocellulosic biomass could yield sufficient bioethanol to replace ∼10 % of worldwide petroleum use. Increasing the biomass used for biofuel production and the yield of bioethanol will thus help meet global energy demands while significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We discuss the advantages of various biotechnological approaches to improve crops and highlight the contribution of genomics and functional genomics in this field. Current knowledge concerning plant hormones and their intermediates involved in the regulation of plant architecture is presented with a special focus on gibberellins and cytokinins, and their signalling intermediates. We highlight the potential of information gained from model plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana and rice (Oryza sativa) to accelerate improvement of fuel crops.
Highlights
Biofuel production and biomass enhancementRenewable biofuels are expected to replace an increasing proportion of fossil fuels consumed in the coming decades
Constitutive overexpression of a mutant form of ARR7 (D85E), which mimics the active, phosphorylated state of the protein, severely affects shoot apical meristem (SAM) functions resulting in a nearly complete blockage of organ formation, similar to the wus mutant. This clearly indicates that repression of genes involved in the negative regulation of cytokinin signalling is essential for normal development of the SAM
From the foregoing, it is clear that phytohormones have a significant influence on plant architecture
Summary
Biofuels hold the promise to replace an appreciable proportion of fossil fuels. Do they emit significantly lower amounts of greenhouse gases, they are much closer to being ‘carbon neutral’, since the source plants utilize carbon dioxide for their growth. Available lignocellulosic biomass could yield sufficient bioethanol to replace 10 % of worldwide petroleum use. Increasing the biomass used for biofuel production and the yield of bioethanol will help meet global energy demands while significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We discuss the advantages of various biotechnological approaches to improve crops and highlight the contribution of genomics and functional genomics in this field. We highlight the potential of information gained from model plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana and rice (Oryza sativa) to accelerate improvement of fuel crops
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