Team maps genome for potential fuel source

It took the work of more than 100 researchers, including Samuel Hazen, assistant professor of Biology, for the journal Nature last week to be able to publish the entire genome of the model grass commonly known as purple false brome.

It is the first member of this economically important grass family – which is being eyed as potential fuel source – to have its DNA fully sequenced.

Hazen’s laboratory is one of 10 funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2008 to accelerate the development of cellulosic biofuels such as the grass Brachypodium distachyon, widely regarded as one of the most promising alternatives on the horizon to reduce the country’s reliance on imported oil and to cut greenhouse gas emissions. UMass Amherst received $1.2 million of the total $10 million awarded two years ago.

The biologist says there are now 12 investigators in several laboratories on campus who make up the Brachypodium Consortium. They include microbiologists, plant scientists, chemists and molecular biologists who are “thrashing out the problems” and coming up with new ideas for using this previously overlooked non-food energy crop.

In several ways, Hazen points out, this grass is the opposite of what we desire in a crop — that is, a high-yielding plant. Unlike closely related food crops such as wheat, barley and nonfood energy crops such as switchgrass, B. distachyon is very small and has a short life cycle. But it is easily grown in the laboratory, making it an excellent model for genetic and molecular biology research. For example, biologists can grow a new generation of this grass in three months in the laboratory, compared to up to a full year for other grasses.