Eight SEED FUND projects and five BOOST FUND projects were successfully finished in 2016. The projects mainly focussed on biomass conversion and on production of platform and high value chemicals.
One main focus of the projects was the challenge to access biomass for conversion into platform and high-value chemicals. The BOOST FUND project OrCaCel focussed on optimization of pre-treatment and fractionation of plant biomass. Different perennial plants were grown under various conditions and their cell wall composition as well as the output streams of fractionation with the OrganoCat process were characterized.
To enable economically feasible industrial conversion processes, substantial amounts of plant biomass-degrading enzymes are needed but many of them can still not be produced in large quantities and at reasonable costs. This challenge was adressed by two BOOST FUND projects. BioBreak succeeded to optimize two important secretion systems in the bacterial expression strains Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis. BIOExpresSPro identified novel naturally occurring plant-biomass degrading enzymes via database search and developed a novel synthetic biology strategy enabling high-throughput cloning, high-level expression and secretion of enzymes in different microbial chassis organisms.
An alternative access to biomass is the production of synthesis gas and subsequently of methanol e.g. from wood residuals or sludge. In the SEED FUND project MetEvo, the concept of metabolic evolution was successfully applied to significantly enhance methanol assimilation of a methanol-consuming Corynebacterium glutamicum strain.
Another main focus of the finished projects was the production of platform and high-value chemicals. The economic viability of new production pathways is often hindered by low biocatalytic efficiency. Therefore, the SEED FUND project ROXENSE developed a generalizable concept to optimize biocatalytic product yield by targeting the metabolic redox balance in cells. The SEED FUND project MoniCon worked on the development of defined microbial mixed cultures to replace cocktails of purified enzymes. The BOOST FUND project GLUFACT succeeded in genetic characterization of the frequently used production host Gluconobacter oxydans and in development of a strain with an increased biomass yield. Moreover, novel industrially relevant dehydrogenases were identified and novel fermentation strategies were established. The SEED FUND project UstiOpt optimized an unconventional secretion pathway in Ustilago which allows eukaryotic production of proteins lacking N-glycosylation, e.g antibody fragments.
Some projects worked on the synthesis of plant and microbial natural products. The BOOST FUND project MoRe-Plants addressed the heterologous expression of multi-enzyme cascades in microorganisms for the production of specific alkaloids which are used as antitumor drugs. The SEED FUND project DiPro aimed at the in vitro synthesis of lignans which are highly attractive for the application as pharmaceuticals. To make the synthesis efficient and specific, dirigent proteins which allow a regio- and stereospecific control of particular reaction steps were identified and expressed. Two SEED FUND projects dealt with biosurfactants which have a rapidly increasing global market due to their wide application range, biodegradability and low toxicity. NovoSurf identified novel biosurfactants in soil bacteria and analyzed their suitability for control of nematodes while VariSurf established and optimized the biotechnological production of biosurfactants.
The transformation of a conventional to a bio-based economy can induce changes e.g. in global biomass trade. The SEED FUND project Econ-BioSC developed new quantitative tools to analyze the potential effects of such changes on sensitive ecosystems, such as tropical forests.
The BioSC welcomes a new Core Group. Prof. Petra Bauer is head of the Institute of Botany at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. Her research focusses on the micronutrient iron which plays a major role for many reactions and transport mechanism within the plant.
Petra Bauer investigates the uptake, storage and distribution of iron within the plant with a special emphasis on iron homeostasis responses. Therefore, her group is using plant model systems to identify new gene functions for the uptake and distribution of iron. Th long-term aim is to ensure the efficient usage of minerals in the rhizosphere as well as to increase the mineral content to enhance the quality of vegetable food.
In 1996, Petra Bauer received her PhD at the University of Cologne in the frame of a cooperation with the French institute „Institut des Sciences Végétales, CNRS“. Afterwards, she moved for three years to Berkeley, US, where she worked as a postdoc in the “Department of Plant and Microbial Biology“. Back in Germany in 2002 she started her own research group on “Plant stress and development”, funded by an Emmy-Noether scholarship. In 2004 she started at University Saarbrücken as a junior professor and in 2009 she was appointed as a W2 professor for plant biology at the same university. Since 2013 she is working as full professor (W3) at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf.
Prof. Dr. Petra Bauer
Tel.: +49 211 81-13479
On 15th March 2017 the 16th BioSC Lecture took place at Forschungszentrum Jülich. Dr. Léon Broers, member of the board of management of KWS Saat SE (Einbeck) and member of the German Bioeconomy Council, discussed how plant breeding can contribute to a sustainable bioeconomy and what is needed to facilitate future contribution.
Dr. Broers started with an outline of the global challenges of the coming decades. In 2050 probably nine to ten billion people will live on earth. The demand for food, energy and biomass as feedstock is already increasing while agricultural areas cannot be further expanded. At the same time extreme weather events occur more frequently, the availability of resources, e.g. fresh water, declines, soil degradation is a widespread problem and there is an increase in pest pressure on crop plants. Today almost eight million people are starving. Besides insufficient calory uptake, the insufficient supply with micronutrients, e.g. vitamins and trace elements, is a large problem. Approximately two billion people are suffering from this „hidden hunger“.
At this stage plant breeding already contributes to solutions for the global problems. Using the examples of sugar beet and cereals, Dr. Broers showed how breeding can increase yields: In 1950, one ton of sugar beets per hectare could be harvested while the expected amount for 2020 is 20 tons per hectare. This optimization takes a long time: with conventional breeding, the implementation of a gene from a wildtype beet into a sugar beet needs 20 years. Yields for wheat, rye and triticale could be increased by 5 – 15% from 2004 to 2016.
The nutritional quality of of crops can also be improved. Ergot infestation of rye could be minimized by developing variants with high pollen production. Crop plants can be fortified with micronutrients, e.g. in the case of „Golden Rice“ which contains beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A. Other important targets of plant breeding are resistance to pathogens and to abiotic stress factors. This was illustrated by examples from maize breeding.
Finally, Dr. Broers specified some requirements he considers essential to enable plant breeders to contribute to a sustainable bioeconomy in the future. Besides maintenance of genetic resources and access to these, he mentioned openness towards new breeding technologies, the protection of intellectual property and an efficient transfer of scientific results into practice.
The plant cell wall is the main research interest of Holger Klose. This natural barrier serves to prevent pathogens from entering the cell, but as well is a promising resource to be further utilized as feedstock. In both cases the structure and composition of the cell wall play a crucial role, and thus the genetic basis of its biosynthesis.
Holger Klose studied Biotechnology at RWTH Aachen and subsequently did his PhD in the group of Dr. Ulrich Commandeur. In the frame of his PhD thesis he achieved to modify the plant wall by directed expression of cellulases.
In 2014 he started as a postdoc at the chair of Prof. Björn Usadel at the Institute for Botany and Molecular Genetics at RWTH Aachen University and worked as an investigator in the BOOST FUND-Project EnZiP, which addressed the simplification of plant biomass processing. Then, from 2014 to 2016, he was coordinator of the BOOST FUND-Projects OrCaCel, being an interdisciplinary cooperation project with the chair of Prof. Walter Leitner (RWTH Aachen, ITMC - Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry) and Prof. Ulrich Schurr (FZ Jülich, IBG-2 – Plant Science). The project dealt with testing different cultivation conditions for perennial plants and subsequent fractionation of the plant biomass by applying the OrganoCat-Process, which was developed at RWTH Aachen. In the frame of this project Holger’s group analysed the cell wall composition and its effect on product yield.
The recalcitrance of plant cell walls against enzymatic digestion as well as acid and steam treatment is on the one hand determined by its quantitative composition, e.g. the proportions of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, and on the other hand by its qualitative composition, that is the branching and length of polymers and the type of chemical bonds. These properties can be examined either by chemical or enzymatic hydrolysis or by immunostaining of specific epitopes. Then, further analyses of genetic basis for cell wall composition can be carried out by genome wide association studies.
Since 2017 Holger Klose is head of the FocusLab AP3 which aims to establish a novel biorefinery concept for the sustainable processing of perennial biomass using the the OrganoCat technology, including economic and societal evaluiation of the whole process. Furthermore, he is one of two partners in the consortium of the SEED FUND-Project BioDeg. This project aims to develop tailored recombinant enzymes sets constituting an ensemble of lignin- and cellulose-degrading fungal enzymes for efficient breakdown of different types of biomass.
Further research interests of Holger are the cell wall composition in different types of rapeseed which are infested with Verticillium in the BOOST FUND-project PlaMint and the cell wall composition of tomato plants. Moreover, he is investigating the structure and composition of seed mucilage, a pectin-based layer on seeds which can influence seed quality e.g. for oil production.
Two postdocs and two PhD students are currently working in the group of Holger Klose.
The next tender for the BioSC Supervision Award will take place in June 2017. With the Supervision Award, the Bioeconomy Science Center (BioSC) honors young academics for special achievements with regard to the quality of their supervision service for doctoral students. A panel of recognized scientists will select the three best applicants based on the submitted applications.
The expert committee decides primarily on the basis of the excellent support and the ability of the scientists to motivate students to think interdisciplinarily and thus beyond their own "specialist area". The high quality of the respective teaching activities is also included in the evaluation. The award is intended to improve the start-up requirements for the excellent career development of young researchers.
Core group leaders and graduates are eligible for the proposal. The winners will receive a prize of up to EUR 25,000 as well as a certificate during the 2nd BioSC Symposium. The competition takes place within the framework of the NRW Strategy Project BioSC.
Contact: Greta Mittweg, +49 2461 61-6521, g.mittweg@fz-juelich.de
In phase 2 of the NRW Strategy Project BioSC the Core Groups have again various opportunities to take part in the further development of the BioSC. SEED FUND 2.0 projects, White papers and visits of guest scientists can be applied for. Moreover there is the opportunity to host events like BioSC Spotlights or Summer Schools with organisational support of the Office.
SEED FUND Call in May/June 2017
There will be SEED FUND projects in an adapted form in phase 2. On the one hand this measure will facilitate new approaches within the three Focus Topic Areas and the Competence Platform “Economy, Strategies and Concepts”. On the other hand there will be topic-specific SEED FUND 2.0 Calls which are related to the Focus Labs. The first SEED FUND 2.0 call is planned for end of May/beginning of June. This call will be thematically open (in the above mentioned sense). Later calls will mainly be related to the Focus Labs.
Call for White Papers in June 2017
In the future there will be calls for White Papers two to three times per year. The first call in 2017 is planned for June.
Visits of guest scientists
In phase 2 of the NRW strategy project there is again the opportunity to finance stays of guest scientists for several months. The guest scientists should complement the expertise in the BioSC, introduce it e.g. in a workshop and their strengthen the national and/or international networks of the BioSC. You can find the proposal template in the intranet. If you have any questions please contact the BioSC Office.
Proposals for BioSC Spotlights
Ideas and hosts for the new event series „BioSC Spotlight“ are welcome. BioSC Spotlights are planned to take place two to four times per year. These public „mini symposia“ will focus on selected topics in the context of BioSC. External guests as well as speakers from BioSC projects will be invited to present their scientific results and current developments in the field will be discussed.
All Core Groups have the opportunity to host a BioSC Spotlight and to plan and organise the event together with the BioSC Office. If you have ideas or questions about the procedure please contact the BioSC Office.
Proposals for Season Schools
Ideas and hosts for future BioSC Season Schools are welcome as well. Aninternational summer or winter school should be within the thematic framework of the Focus Topic Areas and Competence Platform of the BioSC. It should mainly address PhD students and should promote the interdisciplinary networking. Training schools can last one to two weeks and should include external speakers.
The BioSC office will take care of the organisational work. The season schools should be planned jointly by the host and a small programme committee.
If you are interested to host a season school or if you would like to bring in any ideas please contact Greta Mittweg.
IMPORTANT: Publications of results from BioSC projects
When you publish results from BioSC problems, please have in mind that, due to the funding regulations of the MIWF, it is mandatory to mention the BioSC and the funding by the MIWF in the acknowledgements. If possible, the BioSC should as well be mentioned as second affiliation in addition to your institute (also see the Acknowledgements template in our intranet). This is also important for visibility and as confirmation of success for the grant authority. Only publications in which the BioSC is mentioned in the way described above can be listed on our homepage and can be counted for the key indicators.
Dr. Heike Slusarczyk
Executive manager
Phone: +49 2461 61 30 03, Fax: +49 2461 61 9882
Email: h.slusarczyk@fz-juelich.de
Dr. Simone Krafft
Scientific-administrative coordination
Phone: +49 2461 61 63 55, Fax: +49 2461 61 9882
Email: s.krafft@fz-juelich.de
Greta Mittweg
Scientific-administrative coordination graduate education
Phone: +49 2461 61 65 21, Fax: +49 2461 61 9882
Email: g.mittweg@fz-juelich.de
Petra Büschgens
Coordination financial management
Phone: +49 2461 61 98 49, Fax: +49 2461 9882
Email: p.bueschgens@fz-juelich.de
Dr. Heike Baron (Office RWTH Aachen)
Scientific-administrative coordination
Phone: +49 241 80-26544
Email: h.baron@fz-juelich.de
Dr. Angela Gubelt (Office University of Bonn)
Scientific-administrative coordination
Phone: +49 228 73-2143
Email: a.gubelt@fz-juelich.de
Dr. Sira Groscurth (Office University of Düsseldorf)
Scientific-administrative coordination
Phone: +49 211 81-11615
Email: s.groscurth@fz-juelich.de
2nd International Bioeconomy Congress
12.-13. September 2017 in Stuttgart-Hohenheim
Host: University of Hohenheim / BioPro Baden-Württemberg / Ministry for Science, Research and the Arts of Baden-Württemberg
More Information
About BioSC
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BioSC-Geschäftsstelle
c/o Forschungszentrum Jülich
52425 Jülich
biosc@fz-juelich.de
