Why does the QMicrobe get 30% more ethanol out of certain Brachypodium perennial grasses?

Biofuels Digest
Isabel Lane June 13, 2011

In Massachusetts, a new five-year $750,000 Early Career Research grant from the DOE aims to determine the genetic mechanism that enables certain strains of the Q Microbe to produce up to 30 percent more ethanol from energy crop model system Brachypodium than other strains.. Samuel Hazen received one of 65 awarded grants from the DOE.

The project will test UMass Amherst’s “Q Microbe”, which was discovered by UMass professor Sue Leschine and forms the original technology platform for Qteros, with hundreds of strains of Brachypodium, to determine the highest-yielding, most efficient variants for energy production. “The goal is to identify the genetic mechanisms that confer these advantages and translate that knowledge into energy crop development,” said Hazen.

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