Thai PhD student in UK studying agave as a biofuel feedstock

In the UK, a PhD student at the University of Liverpool is studying a plant that may provide part of the solution to this problem. Agave sisalana is a proposed biofuel plant that can be grown in semi-arid conditions unsuited to food crops.

This plant is already grown for fibre in countries like Brazil, Tanzania, Kenya and Madagascar. Sisal fibre has traditionally been used for marine ropes, bailer twine, and rugs, but today it is also finding new uses such as reinforced plastic composites for car door panels.

Phaitun Bupphada is sponsored by the Agricultural Research Development Agency (ARDA), Thailand to investigate the genomic biology of agave within the Institute of Integrative Biology.

In collaboration with Liverpool’s world-leading Centre for Genomic Research, Phaitun has sequenced RNA from agave leaves in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the  genes used for CAM photosynthesis. Long-term, the hope is that knowledge of which genes are important in agave will help accelerate its improvement as a biomass feedstock crop.