Scientists are trying to create fastest trees

Scientists are trying to create fastest trees

 

A tree that can reach 90 feet in six years and be grown as a row crop on fallow farmland could represent a major replacement for fossil fuels. Purdue University researchers are using genetic tools in an effort to design trees that readily and inexpensively can yield the substances needed to produce alternative transportation fuel. The scientists are focused on a compound in cell walls called lignin that contributes to plants' structural strength, but which hinders extraction of cellulose. Cellulose is the sugar-containing component needed to make the alternative fuel ethanol. With funding from the Department of Energy, Clint Chapple and Rick Meilan are using genetic tools to find ways to convert trees into ethanol as a replacement for fossil fuels.