Resume

SG Biofuels Vice President & Chief Technologist Eric Mathur will explain how SG Biofuels is unlocking the true promise of Jatropha through an integrated science platform including breeding, biotechnology and integrated agronomics.ഀ Jatropha curcas is a non-edible shrub that is native to Central America. Its seeds contain high amounts of oil that can be processed to produce a high- quality energy feedstock for use in biodiesel, renewable jet fuel or specialty products. Because it is a non-edible feedstock and can be effectively harvested on abandoned land that is considered undesirable for food crops, it does not compete with global food supplies.ഀ SG Biofuels has assembled the largest, most diverse library of Jatropha genetic material in the world including 12,000 unique genotypes, sourced largely from the center of origin in Central America. The germplasm collection is the foundation of an aggressive crop improvement program that has already produced an elite cultivar of Jatropha, optimized for Guatemala, with yields 100 percent greater than existing commercial varieties.ഀ At SG Biofuels, intensive selection and breeding programs are identifying and developing the most productive, regionally adapted strains from its germplasm collection. Through outcrosses which combine important traits and inbreeding to improve uniformity of parental lines, high productivity hybrid seeds have been produced.ഀ SG Biofuels plant biotechnology program is accelerating the improvement of Jatropha through the association of molecular markers with trait genes and the development of plant regeneration, transformation and dihaploid technologies. The biotechnology platform will pursue a broad range of traits through genetic improvements focusing on yield, profitability and growth characteristics that facilitate efficient fruit harvesting.ഀ The company has formed an alliance with Life Technologies Corporation, a leading global provider of advanced biotechnology and synthetic biology tools. Those tools, combined with SG Biofuels' extensive germplasm library, provide an unprecedented platform from which to quickly identify and advance commercial traits impacting yield and profitability.ഀ The partnership has successfully sequenced the Jatropha curcas genome, using the SOLiD™ 4.0 System by Life Technologies. Working with Life Technologies, SG Biofuels is using the sequence to generate a high quality Jatropha reference genome. The genome has been used to identify molecular markers and trait genes; the company is applying more than 1.6 million genetic markers (SNPs) for Jatropha curcas toward the development of marker assisted selection (MAS) methods which will accelerate the production of elite, high-performing hybrid cultivars of the energy crop. This work will also advanced the introduction of transgenic plants with further improved traits.ഀ Following more than three years of intensive research, scientists at SG Biofuels have developed proprietary JMax Hybrid Seed Production Technology™. Hybrid seed production requires 1/50th the land needed to produce clonal plants by vegetative propagation, with the added benefits of hybrid vigor, strong tap roots and overall improved plant health, all at a fraction of the cost of tissue culture or other methods. For example, using SG Biofuels' hybrid seed technology, a 10 hectare production plot can produce seeds sufficient to plant 22,000 hectares (43 million seeds) while vegetative propagation via traditional cuttings would require 500 hectares of land to achieve the same number.ഀ Mathur will also speak to the company’s advancements in the innovative field of molecular agronomics and progress in developing key characteristics including soil adaptation and pest resistance.ഀ The integrated breeding and biotechnology approaches form the foundation for the SG Biofuels JMax Jatropha Optimization Platform™, which provides research agencies, growers and plantation developers with access to the company’s germplasm library, the sequenced genome and advanced biotech and synthetic biology tools to develop superior cultivars specifically optimized for their unique growing conditions. The JMax™ platform is driving the commercialization of Jatropha through the development of elite cultivars of Jatropha with higher yields, reduced input costs and greater profitability.