Award details

Enzyme discovery in hybrid aspen for fibre engineering

Reference	BBS/E/J/0000A034
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Keith Roberts
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	John Innes Centre
Department	John Innes Centre Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	124,187
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/08/2001
End date	31/07/2005
Duration	48 months

Abstract

Enzymes are natural catalysts that are used increasingly to replace environmentally harmful chemicals and to achieve better catalytic selectivity during pulp and paper processing. The main objective of this project is to identify novel plant enzymes for deeper understanding of the process of fibre formation and for future improvement of the quality parameters of wood fibres. Specific modification of the fibre characteristics will facilitate their use as raw materials for the current pulp and paper industries and will lay the basis for the development of completely novel products. The project is based on a database of over 8000 ESTs (Expressed Sequence Tags) from the wood-forming tissues of hybrid aspen. Enzyme discovery and fibre engineering are carried out by stepwise selection of enzymes, which have high expression levels during wood formation and which have demonstrated effects on the fibre composition and chemistry. Influence of the altered fibre characteristics on the final product properties will be evaluated by micropulping experiments of juvenile transgenic lines of the hybrid aspen.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Plant & Microbial Sciences (PMS)
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

I accept the terms and conditions of use (opens in new window)

export PDF file

back to list new search