Molecular builders of cell walls of lignocellulosic feedstock: A source for biofuels

Abstract

Biofuels are an alternative source of renewable and sustainable energy which can be obtained from lignocellulosic feedstock (crop or non-crop energy plants), algae, or as a by-product from the industrial processing of agricultural/food products, or from the recovery and reprocessing of products such as cooking and vegetable oil. Such biofuels are generally in the form of either bioethanol or biodiesel or biobutanol. It is necessary that improvements be made at every stage during the processing of biofuel starting from enhancing the ability of the plant to maximally utilize the solar energy to fix the CO2 into biomass and generate greater amounts of cellulosic material. The next step in the process would be to separate the cellulose from the lignin in a cost-effective way. And finally extract ethanol from this cellulose using various methodologies such as fermentation and/or cellulose pyrolysis. Engineering the steps involved in releasing the cellulose from the other cell wall components especially lignin would reduce the cost of generating biofuels from lignocellulosic materials. Hence, an in-depth understanding of the molecular components that are involved in either the regulation or biosynthesis of lignin and consequences/ limitations of altering those pathways and redirecting the flux to alternate pathways are discussed.