Compositions and methods for producing fermentable carbohydrates

US9127287B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Syngenta Participations AG · CH

Inventors

• Richard J. Hall · Durham, US
• Simon Warner · Durham, US
• Rogerio Prata · Chapel Hill, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 11, 2009
• Grant date: Sep 8, 2015
• Expiry date: Nov 11, 2030

Classification

• Technology area (CPC C): Chemistry; Metallurgy
• CPC primary: C12N15/8246
• WIPO field: Biotechnology
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

Provided herein are methods for producing fermentable sugar obtained from a plant tissue. The methods include providing transgenic plant material comprising one or more locked carbohydrates and contacting plant material with an enzyme capable of converting the locked carbohydrate into a fermentable sugar. The methods are useful for providing sugar or sugar pre-cursors for several industrial purposes including ethanol production. The invention also encompasses plants and plant parts that produce a lock enzyme to yield a locked carbohydrate, with the consequence of accumulating the locked carbohydrate in the plant. The invention also encompasses providing a key enzyme able to convert locked carbohydrates to fermentable sugars. Key enzymes can be provided by transgenic plants or plant parts, transgenic microbes, transgenic yeast, microbes or yeast.