Corn genome model speeds biofuel, food staple development

Examiner.com
Rita Tatum, South Bend Science Examiner
November 2, 2011

Hoosier corn feeds millions worldwide and offers significant potential as an automotive biofuel, produced in South Bend’s New Energy Corp. corn ethanol plant. Relying on genome modeling, corn crops may be genetically fine-tuned to produce both improved food corn and stronger nonfood fibers for advanced biofuel production rapidly.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory announced today that the first genome-scale model for predicting functions of genes and gene networks has been developed by an international team of researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), a multi-institutional partnership led by the Berkeley Lab. Called RiceNet, the model may speed development of improved strains of corn and rice to act as advanced biofuels. Scientists are hopeful the new model also will help boost crop production and improve the quality of two important food staples.

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