JBEI Highlights February 2015

1. Background
• Switchgrass is a leading bioenergy crop, yet robust
genetic tools are currently difficult to build.
• We profiled the proteome of the switchgrass
endomembrane from 10-day-old dark grown
coleoptiles.
Approach
• Endomembrane fractions from two biological
replicates were prepared and each fraction was
analyzed twice by LC-MS/MS.
Outcomes
• A total of 2514 unique switchgrass proteins were
identified with a false discovery rate of 0.1%. There
were 1750 unique proteins identified in both
replicates which comprise nearly 70% of all identified
proteins.
Significance
• This is the first known published proteomics dataset
for switchgrass and showcases the maturity of the
genomics data produced by next-generation
sequencing
Proteome profile of the endomembrane of
developing coleoptiles from switchgrass
(Panicum virgatum)
Lao et al. (2015). “Proteome profile of the endomembrane of developing coleoptiles from
switchgrass (Panicum virgatum)”. Proteomics 2015, 1–5, doi 10.1002/pmic.201400487
Experimental
and analytical
workflows
GO terms assigned to the 1750 switchgrass endomembrane proteins

2. Background
• We compare and contrast the impacts on ionic liquid (IL) pretreatment
on bioethanol and biogas production.
• This work represents the first known report in studying the applicability
of mild IL pretreatment as a strategy to guarantee good glucose
recovery from the biomass and optimizing the total energy production
by combining bioethanol and biogas production.
Approach
• Corn stover (CS) and swithcgrass (SG) were pretreated using IL and
pressurized hot water (PHW) and then enzymatically saccharified
(ES). The sugars were then fermented to ethanol and the residues
anaerobically digested (AD)
Outcomes
• Results obtained indicated that the total energy produced by
bioethanol + biomethane represented about 58% and 61% after IL
treatment and 50% and 56% after PHW treatment, for CS and SG,
respectively, of the total energy content of the biomass studied.
• The total energy produced (bioethanol + biomethane) was 10.2 and
8.8 MJ/kg dm and 10.9 and 10 MJ/kg dm, for CS and SG after IL and
PHW pretreatment, respectively
Comparison of different pretreatments for the
production of bioethanol and biomethane from
corn stover and switchgrass
Papa et al, (2015). (2015). "Comparison of different pretreatments for the production of bioethanol and
biomethane from corn stover and switchgrass". Bioresour Technol, 183C(0), 101-110. doi,
10.1016/j.biortech.2015.01.121
Significance
• The total energy produced via IL pretreatment was greater compared to
PHW pretreated and untreated biomass. In particular the energy
produced from IL pretreated CS and SG enhanced of +18.6% and
+34.5%, respectively, being these increase higher than those obtained
by hot water treatment,i.e.+2.3% and +23.4% for CS and SG,
respectively.