Transgenic Plants with Soluble Cell Wall Polysaccharides
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current biomass-to-ethanol processes are energy-intensive due to the pretreatment step, which involves high temperatures and chemicals, and wood and paper production processes require lengthy penetration of solvents and enzymes, making these processes costly and inefficient.
Innovation Solution
Transgenic plants are engineered to over-express enzymes that produce water-soluble polysaccharides or convert existing polysaccharides to more soluble forms, allowing for easier penetration of solvents and enzymes, thereby reducing processing time and energy consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If conventional biomass-to-ethanol pretreatment is used with high temperature and chemicals, then cell wall conversion is achieved, but energy consumption is high
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by genetically modifying plants to pre-install water-soluble polysaccharides in their cell walls before harvesting. These polysaccharides are synthesized by over-expressing enzymes such as levansucrase or chitin synthase, which create cell wall structures that are inherently more susceptible to subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis, thereby eliminating the need for energy-intensive high-temperature pretreatment steps in ethanol production
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the chemical parameters of the cell wall by introducing water-soluble polysaccharides that alter the physical and chemical properties of the cell wall matrix. This modification changes the solubility and permeability characteristics of the cell wall, enabling it to be more readily penetrated by solvents and enzymes under milder processing conditions, thus reducing energy consumption while maintaining conversion efficiency
2Productivity
If lengthy solvent and enzyme penetration is used in wood and paper production, then processing is complete, but processing time is long
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-modifying the cell wall structure in living plants through genetic engineering. The over-expression of polysaccharide-synthesizing enzymes creates water-soluble polysaccharides that are deposited in the cell wall during plant growth, thereby pre-preparing the cell wall for rapid solvent and enzyme penetration during subsequent industrial processing of wood and paper products
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical parameters of the cell wall by introducing water-soluble polysaccharides that increase the hydrophilicity and reduce the crystallinity of the cell wall matrix. This parameter change facilitates faster diffusion and penetration of solvents and enzymes during wood and paper processing, significantly reducing processing time while improving productivity
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The modified transgenic plants facilitate faster and cheaper conversion of biomass to ethanol and processing of wood and paper products by enhancing the solubility and penetrability of cell walls, thus reducing the energy and chemical requirements in these processes.
Implementation Method 1
over-expressing a nucleic acid molecule encoding an enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of a polysaccharide that is water soluble
Implementation Method 2
the polysaccharide melts or dissolves upon acidic or alkaline treatment
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides a bio-fuel, wood or other product, such as a paper, textile or yarn product. The product can contain material from a transgenic plant over-expressing a nucleic acid molecule encoding an enzyme that causes the plant cell wall to be more water soluble than the wild type.