Editors: Daniela Defavari do Nascimento, William A. Pickering

Plant-Based Genetic Tools for Biofuels Production

eBook: US $39 Special Offer (PDF + Printed Copy): US $151
Printed Copy: US $131
Library License: US $156
ISBN: 978-1-68108-462-6 (Print)
ISBN: 978-1-68108-461-9 (Online)
Year of Publication: 2017
DOI: 10.2174/97816810846191170101

Introduction

Biofuels are currently used as a viable alternative energy source in several countries. Plant-Based Genetic Tools for Biofuels Production explains biotechnological techniques and concepts that are applied to increase biofuel yield from plants and algae. Chapters of the book cover a variety of topics: the basic research techniques (cell suspension, embryogenesis, protoplast fusion), plant genetics (plant DNA mutations, new plant breeding techniques, viral genetic vectors for heterologous gene expression, sub cellular proteomes), genomic resources and bioinformatics tools, plant species with bioenergy and biofuel potential, factors influencing biomass yield, advances in cultivation technologies, fermentation of different substrates for ethanol production, and microalgae biomass technologies. Readers will gain a thorough understanding of modern biofuel production. Plant-Based Genetic Tools for Biofuels Production is a suitable reference for students in biotechnology and bioinformatics programs as well as researchers interested in information about the basics of biofuel production.

Indexed in: BIOSIS Previewsts, Book Citation Index.

Foreword

In the last hundred years, fossil fuels have changed the life of human society in a fantastic way. Human mobility, new composites, and petrochemicals have dramatically improved the quality of life in the developed world. The broad use of charcoal for electricity generation, particularly in North America and Europe, has allowed industry to grow very fast and at a low cost, based on a large consumption of energy on a per capita basis. As a consequence, emissions of air pollutants by transportation systems based on fossil fuels have imposed major losses in health quality, particularly in big cities. Greenhouse gas emissions are expected to reach critical values by the end of this century, endangering the maintenance of life on our planet. The consequences of keeping up the same pace of energy consumption based on fossil fuels are already well known, and a major concerted effort among all nations is necessary in order to prevent global warming. Renewable energies are the best solution for maintaining the growing demand for energy and at the same time avoiding the problems caused by the use of fossil fuels. One of the reasons for adopting renewable energy alternatives is the fall in their production costs, making them highly competitive with other sources of energy. Biomass is more and more becoming an alternative for the production of biofuels, as well as becoming the raw material for a newborn chemical industry based on renewable sources. In the following chapters, the reader is presented with several topics related to biomass production, from plants to algae. Modern techniques applied to plant tissue culture, genetic transformation, plant breeding, and functional genomics are presented in a smooth and highly informative way.

Carlos Alberto Labate
Department of Genetics,
Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ),
University of São Paulo (USP), Piracicaba-SP,
Brazil


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