SUMMERVILLE, SC - Genetically engineered Loblolly Pine that produce more terpen for use in transportation fuels will be developed by ArborGen and the University of Florida under a $6 million federal grant.

ArborGen, a commercal developer of pine seedlings, will serve on a University of Florida-led research team to advance Pine-based transportation biofuels, funded by a three-year, $6.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Project Agency–Energy (ARPA-E). The goal is to bring about a five-fold increase in the amount of terpene produced by Loblolly Pine, making it cost-competitive with petroleum-based fuels.

The research team will be led by Gary Peter, Ph.D. and professor of forest genomics with University of Florida’s School of Forest Resources and Conservation in Gainesville. Maud Hinchee, Ph.D., ArborGen chief science officer, and William Rottmann, Ph.D., an ArborGen senior scientist, and the University of California – Berkeley’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI).

ArborGen has been developing SuperTree Seedlings and mapping genomes of tree species in collaboration with forestry research universities and the Dept of Energy. Its work includes the mostly widely grown tree species in the commercial forestry industry, such as Loblolly Pine, Radiata Pine and Eucalyptus.