Thursday, February 04, 2010 By Kristi McCarthy Researchers identified a way to increase the amount of oil produced by tobacco leaves. Tobacco represents a useful way to save energy. - Advertising Tobacco plant leaves prove effective use for bio fuels KRISTI McCARTHY Editor        A team of researchers from Thomas Jefferson University’s Biotechnology Foundation Laboratories have identified a way to increase the amount of oil produced by tobacco leaves.      “Tobacco can generate bio fuel more efficiently than other agricultural crops but most of the oil is typically found in the seeds,” said Vyacheslav Andrianov, Ph.D., assistant professor at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University. According to Andrianov, tobacco seeds are composed of about 40 percent oil per dry weight.      The seed oil has also been tested for use in diesel engines. However, because tobacco plants do not yield an excessive amount of seeds only about 600 kg of seeds per acre are used. “Tobacco is very attractive as a bio fuel because the best idea is to use plants that aren’t used in food production,” Andrianov said. "We have found ways to genetically engineer the plants so that their leaves express more oil. In some instances, the modified plants produced 20-fold more oil in the leaves."     Several efforts are being made to find bio fuel sources that are not also food, in order to risk the chance of causing rises in global food costs. The government recently announced funding for research using non-photosynthesizing microorganisms to manufacture bio diesel.      "Based on these data, tobacco represents an attractive and promising 'energy plant' platform, and could also serve as a model for the utilization of other high-biomass plants for bio fuel production," Dr. Andrianov said.

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