AMHERST — Global demand for forest products such as pulp for paper, timber and fuel pellets is expected to increase in coming years. To meet this need, University of Massachusetts plant geneticist Sam Hazen, whose research has led to higher biomass yield in grasses, recently received a grant to demonstrate that his new technology can grow trees that produce more wood than conventional trees.
The National Science Foundation awarded Hazen a three-year, $713,000 grant to study gene regulation of cell wall growth in the model grass species called Brachypodium. His experiments will advance understanding of the transcription networks that regulate secondary cell wall biosynthesis in grasses.
Understanding the cell wall, which is a complex blend of polysaccharides, proteins and lignin, plus the processes and genes that regulate them, could have a big impact on commercial agriculture, he points out.
Hazen, an associate professor of biology at UMass Amherst, has partnered with a local biotechnology startup in Amherst, Genoverde Biosciences, Inc., to test the commercial viability of technology developed in his lab. He is also chief scientific officer for Genoverde. The company recently received a one-year, $225,000 grant from NSF’s Small Business Innovation Research program to evaluate the use of its “gene trait approach” to bioengineering loblolly pine for high wood density by modifying secondary cell wall gene regulation.
“Our goal is to demonstrate that we can provide more renewable biomass in loblolly pine by adapting the process at work in grasses,” Hazen says. Loblolly pine tree farms in the United States are expected to play a large role in meeting increased global demand for wood in coming years and this technology has the potential to help meet that need.
If successful, this bioengineering project would provide more wood material per tree and per acre with no added cost to production processing. That is, no increased use of land, water or fertilizers, the researchers say. As an added benefit, bioengineered trees would help to protect the environment by sequestering more atmospheric carbon dioxide to mitigate global climate change.
Hazen explains, “Since trees are made up mostly of cell wall, this biotechnology would lead to increasing biomass up to 20 percent.”