Advances in Biofuels, Low-Calorie Food Oils

EAST LANSING, Mich.Genetic discoveries from a shrub called the burning bush, known for its brilliant red fall foliage, could fire new advances in biofuels and low-calorie food oils, according to Michigan State University scientists.

The burning bush is not a suitable oil crop; however, when inserted into the mustard weedwell-known to researchers as Arabidopsis and a cousin to commercial oilseed canolathe burning bush gene encodes an enzyme that produces a substantial yield of unusual compounds called acetyl glycerides, or acTAGs. Related vegetable oils are the basis of the worlds oilseed industry for the food and biofuels markets, but the oil produced by the burning bush enzyme claims unique and valuable characteristics, including a lower viscosity.

The high viscosity of most plant oils prevents their direct use in diesel engines, so the oil must be converted to biodiesel, said Timothy Durrett, an MSU plant biology research associate. We demonstrated that acTAGs possess lower viscosity than regular plant oils. The lower viscosity acTAGs could, therefore, be useful as a direct-use biofuel for many diesel engines.

Improved low-temperature characteristics noted for the oil also could make it suitable for diesel fuel. acTAGs boast lower calorie content than other vegetable oils and, therefore, could be used as a reduced-calorie food oil substitute. The researchers are working to improve the modified mustard weed seeds acTAGs yield and already report purity levels of up to 80 percent.

It should now be possible to produce acetyl glycerides in transgenic oilseed crops or single cell production systems such as algae that are the focus of much current effort in biofuels research, another researcher said. With the basic genetics defined and thus one major technical risk greatly reduced, the way is open to produce and assess this novel oil in food and nonfood applications.