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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 631 records · Page 35
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

Data for Selective Oxidation of 3-Hydroxypropionic Acid to Malonic Acid over Pd/C: Mechanistic and Kinetic Study

Malonic acid (MA) is a high-value dicarboxylic acid with strong industrial demand, yet its current production heavily relies on petrochemical feedstocks. Here, we report the first systematic study for the sustainable production of MA via oxidation of 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP) with a Pd/Carbon catalyst. The effects of oxidant type (O2 and H2O2), pH, and temperature on the reaction chemistry were comprehensively evaluated. Guided by experimental observation and DFT-calculated thermochemical energetics, reaction networks for 3-HP oxidation with both oxidants are proposed and validated through kinetic modeling. MA was identified as the primary oxidation product, while further oxidation yields acetic acid and oxalic acid. The kinetic model validated the network, displaying excellent agreement (R2 > 0.95). Kinetic observations also enabled a direct comparison between O2 and H2O2 and revealed their distinct behaviors. The model was further developed into a temperature-time map, providing insight into conditions that maximize MA production. Malonic acid selectivity of 56.9 % and yield of 50.5 % were achieved at 3 bar oxygen, equimolar NaOH:3-HP ratio, and 50 °C.

Bioproducts↗
DOE OSTI2026

Data for Nitrogen Dynamics and Physiological N Use Efficiency in High-biomass Sorghum

Improving nitrogen (N) efficiency is essential for sustainable high-biomass sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor L. Moench ) production. This study evaluated leaf and stem N dynamics, canopy N remobilization, and physiological nitrogen use efficiency (pNUE) in two photoperiod-sensitive sorghum hybrids under two N rates (0 and 168 kg-N ha−1) across multiple environments in Texas and Illinois. Leaf N concentrations increased with plant height in the canopy with steeper gradients under low-N conditions, indicating enhanced N remobilization when N is limited. Stem tissue showed less variation in N concentration across canopy nodal positions, with within-plant differences ranging from 1.2 to 7.6 g kg−1, compared to 3.1 to 16.3 g kg−1 in leaves. While pNUE was generally higher under unfertilized conditions, it varied largely by site; however, genotypic differences were minimal within the given year. These results highlight the importance of integrating environmental and management factors into breeding and fertilization strategies to enhance N efficiency in high-biomass sorghum.

Nitrogen↗
DOE OSTI2024

Data for Rapid and Efficient in planta Genome Editing in Sorghum Using Foxtail Mosaic Virus-mediated sgRNA Delivery

The requirement of in vitro tissue culture for the delivery of gene editing reagents limits the application of gene editing to commercially relevant varieties of many crop species. To overcome this bottleneck, plant RNA viruses have been deployed as versatile tools for in planta delivery of recombinant RNA. Viral delivery of single-guide RNAs (sgRNAs) to transgenic plants that stably express CRISPR-associated (Cas) endonuclease has been successfully used for targeted mutagenesis in several dicotyledonous and few monocotyledonous plants. Progress with this approach in monocotyledonous plants is limited so far by the availability of effective viral vectors. We engineered a set of foxtail mosaic virus (FoMV) and barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV) vectors to deliver the fluorescent protein AmCyan to track viral infection and movement in Sorghum bicolor . We further used these viruses to deliver and express sgRNAs to Cas9 and Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) expressing transgenic sorghum lines, targeting Phytoene desaturase (PDS), Magnesium-chelatase subunit I (MgCh), 4-hydroxy-3-methylbut-2-enyl diphosphate reductase, orthologs of maize Lemon white1 (Lw1) or GFP. The recombinant BSMV did neither infect sorghum nor deliver or express AmCyan and sgRNAs. In contrast, the recombinant FoMV systemically spread throughout sorghum plants and induced somatic mutations with frequencies reaching up to 60%. This mutagenesis led to visible phenotypic changes, demonstrating the potential of FoMV for in planta gene editing and functional genomics studies in sorghum.

Feedstock Production↗
DOE OSTI2024

Progress on Photo‐, Electro‐, and Photoelectro‐Catalytic Conversion of Recalcitrant Polyethylene, Polypropylene, and Polystyrene ‐ A Review

Abstract Recalcitrant waste plastics such a polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene are difficult to recycle and are mostly disposed of in landfills and eventually leached into the environmental as micro‐ and nano‐plastics. This review explores how photo‐, electro‐, and combined photoelectro‐catalytic processes can assist in the degradation and upcycling of waste plastic into different chemicals and mitigate their release to the environment. In this work, we discuss how the different reaction mechanisms proceed, explore the current relevant literature, and highlight the developments needed to advance the field.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2026

Crop models: integrating systems from the molecular to global for agricultural productivity and sustainability

Mathematical models that simulate crop growth in response to environmental conditions and management practices are essential tools for exploring agriculture-based strategies to address food security and environmental sustainability challenges. Early applications of crop models focused on supporting farmers in making management decisions. Applications have since expanded to estimating future impacts on local and global food production from changing climates. Emerging applications of crop models aim to leverage how these models integrate plant processes across biological scales to identify engineering or breeding strategies that account for environmentally-responsive dynamics at field scales and for exploring solutions to improve sustainability. In this review, we highlight recent studies across these four broad application areas and highlight potential future directions for the crop modeling field.

Piao, Ximin [Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign↗
DOE OSTI2025

Is more better? Polyploidy in crops with diverse end uses and the potential for future applications

Increasing the number of chromosome sets can increase cell size and improve yields in some crops. Breeding polyploid crops introduces unique challenges compared to diploid species, which has deterred many from exploring the potential benefits. Despite this, recent technological advancements have alleviated some of the challenges related to complex genomes and enabled the improvement of many polyploid crops. Given these advancements, there is a need to review the use of higher ploidy crops and explore potential opportunities for increased chromosome number. Many of the leading bioenergy crops are polyploids and there may be additional opportunities to further diversify feedstocks for emerging bioenergy markets. Such diversification would help to meet the anticipated increase in renewable and sustainable energy demands. Here, in this perspective review, we review polyploid crops and the extent to which ploidy level impacts improvement and production. The advantages and disadvantages of each crop are discussed in the context of their ploidy level and end-use. Particular emphasis is given to the current role and potential of polyploidy in creating the next generation of bioenergy feedstocks. Polyploids present challenges to crop improvement due to their complex genomes, but many of these difficulties can and have been overcome with technological advancements. Approaches that facilitate the use of higher ploidy crops open a path to capturing the many benefits of polyploidy, such as increased fruit and seed size, vigour, diversity, biomass and yield quality. However, these benefits are not observed across all species. This further emphasizes the need to study higher ploidy in traditionally diploid crops.

bioenergy↗
DOE OSTI2026

Molecular origin of anisotropic shear elastoplasticity in chitin

Chitin nano- and mesoscale structures present in the exoskeleton of crustaceans exhibit exceptional longitudinal stiffness and toughness, rivaling or even exceeding that of many synthetic polymer architectures. Here, we reveal the origin of the asymmetric shear response in chitin multiscale architectures, marked by pronounced anisotropy in deformation. Under shear aligned with the molecular axis, chitin accommodates strain through coherent atomic rearrangements that enable elastic recovery. In contrast, shear applied perpendicular to this axis induces liquid-like plasticity via localized sliding. These results demonstrate the intrinsic mechanical anisotropy of chitin, underpinning a dual function in resisting repetitive loading while dissipating internal stress during high-strain events. Our findings establish the molecular basis of shear elastoplasticity in multiscale chitin structures, wherein axial elasticity supports energy storage in load-bearing regions, whereas transverse plasticity enables controlled energy dissipation. These atomic-scale insights lay a foundation for the predictive design of chitin-based materials with tunable strength-toughness profiles.

Wan, Zhangmin [University of British Columbia, Van↗
DOE OSTI2026

Data for Expression of a Bacterial Trehalose 6-Phosphate Synthase Gene otsA in Camelina sativa Seeds Promotes the Channelling of Carbon Towards Oil Accumulation

Improving seed oil yield is essential for developing Camelina sativa as a sustainable biofuel crop. Fatty acid synthesis depends on the production of acetyl-CoA from photosynthetically derived sugars. Trehalose 6-phosphate (T6P), a proxy for sucrose availability, can link sugar status to plant growth and development. Synthesised by trehalose 6-phosphate synthase (TPS) from UDP-glucose and glucose-6-phosphate, T6P plays a regulatory role in metabolism. Our previous studies on Arabidopsis transgenic lines constitutively expressing the E. coli otsA (encoding TPS) showed increased T6P levels and seed triacylglycerol, along with stunted growth. In the present study we express otsA in camelina under the control of a seed-specific Phaseolin promoter. Seeds of the resulting transgenic lines accumulated high levels of T6P, and a 15%–20% increase in total fatty acids and triacylglycerol compared to wild-type. Molecular analysis showed the transgenic seeds had reduced SnRK1 activity, elevated WRI1 protein levels, and increased the levels of WRI1 and its target genes, along with enhanced rates of fatty acid synthesis that increased seed weights relative to wild type. Notably, the increase in oil did not affect seed protein levels but did reduce the soluble metabolite fraction. Crucially, seed-specific expression of otsA mitigated the growth defects associated with constitutive otsA expression, and the transgenic lines showed normal seed development and germination. These findings demonstrate that targeted T6P modulation via seed-specific otsA expression is an effective metabolic engineering strategy to boost oil production in camelina and potentially in other oilseed crops and bioenergy crops such as energycane, sorghum and miscanthus.

Lipids↗
DOE OSTI2025

Data for "Anti-Pdc1p Nanobody as a Genetically Encoded Inhibitor of Ethanol Production Enables Dual Transcriptional and Post-translational Controls of Yeast Fermentations"

Microbial fermentation provides a sustainable method of producing valuable chemicals. Adding dynamic control to fermentations can significantly improve titers, but most systems rely on transcriptional controls of metabolic enzymes, leaving existing intracellular enzymes unregulated. This limits the ability of transcriptional controls to switch off metabolic pathways, especially when metabolic enzymes have long half-lives. We developed a two-layer transcriptional/post-translational control system for yeast fermentations. Specifically, the system uses blue light to transcriptionally activate the major pyruvate decarboxylase PDC1 , required for cell growth and concomitant ethanol production. Switching to darkness transcriptionally inactivates PDC1 and instead activates the anti-Pdc1p nanobody, NbJRI, to act as a genetically encoded inhibitor of Pdc1p accumulated during the growth phase. This dual transcriptional/post-translational control improves the production of 2,3-BDO and citramalate by up to 100 and 92% compared to using transcriptional controls alone in dynamic two-phase fermentations. This study establishes the NbJRI nanobody as an effective genetically encoded inhibitor of Pdc1p that can enhance the production of pyruvate-derived chemicals.

metabolic engineering↗
DOE OSTI2025

Data for "A 13-year record indicates differences in the duration and depth of soil carbon accrual among potential bioenergy crops"

Data sets for material included in "A 13-year record indicates differences in the duration and depth of soil carbon accrual among potential bioenergy crops" by Kantola et al., 2025, in Global Change Biology Bioenergy. Data include soil organic carbon (SOC), carbon stable isotope ratios, annual belowground biomass, and annual post-harvest litter for four crops, maize/soybean, miscanthus, switchgrass, and prairie, between 2008 and 2021.

bioenergy crops↗
DOE OSTI2026

Data for "Examining Organic Acid Production Potential and Growth-Coupled Strategies in Issatchenkia orientalis Using Constraint-Based Modeling"

Growth-coupling product formation can facilitate strain stability by aligning industrial objectives with biological fitness. Organic acids make up many building block chemicals that can be produced from sugars obtainable from renewable biomass. Issatchenkia orientalis is a yeast strain tolerant to acidic conditions and is thus a promising host for industrial production of organic acids. Here, we use constraint-based methods to assess the potential of computationally designing growth-coupled production strains for I. orientalis that produce 22 different organic acids under aerobic or microaerobic conditions. We explore native and engineered pathways using glucose or xylose as the carbon substrates as proxy constituents of hydrolyzed biomass. We identified growth-coupled production strategies for 37 of the substrate-product pairs, with 15 pairs achieving production for any growth rate. We systematically assess the strain design solutions and categorize the underlying principles involved.

Bioproducts↗
DOE OSTI2026

Data for "Adsorptive Separation and Recovery of Triacetic Acid Lactone from Fermentation Broth"

Triacetic acid lactone (TAL) can be microbially produced and further chemically upgraded to several high-value chemicals. In this work, several acidic and basic ion-exchange resins and activated charcoal were evaluated for their ability to adsorb microbially produced TAL. Activated charcoal and a weak base resin, Dowex 66, showed similar TAL adsorption capacity of 0.18 ± 0.002 g/g. At 15% w/v activated charcoal, about 98% of TAL present in fermentation broth could be adsorbed. Further, ethanol washing allowed recovery of 72% of adsorbed TAL. A biorefinery producing TAL from sucrose was designed, simulated, and evaluated (through technoeconomic analysis) under uncertainty, for an estimated TAL minimum product selling price (MPSP) of $4.27/kg [$3.71−4.94/kg; 5th-95th percentiles] for the current state of technology and $2.83/kg [$2.46–3.29/kg] following potential near-term improvements to fermentation. Thus, this work provides an adsorptive process to recover microbially produced TAL that can be chemically upgraded to several industrial products.

Bioproducts↗
DOE OSTI2026

Data for Immediate Impacts of Soybean Cover Crop on Bacterial Community Composition and Diversity in Soil Under Long-Term Saccharum Monoculture

Saccharum yield decline results from long-term monoculture practices. Changes in cropping management can improve soil health and productivity. Below-ground bacterial community diversity and composition across soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr) cover crop, Saccharum monoculture (30+ year) and fallowed soil were determined. Near full length (~1,400 base pairs) of 16S rRNA gene sequences were extracted from the rhizospheres of sugarcane and soybean and fallowed soil were compared. Higher soil bacterial diversity was observed in the soybean cover crop than sugarcane monoculture across all measured indices (observed operationational taxonomic units, Chao1, Shannon, reciprocal Simpson and Jackknife). Acidocateria, Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Planctomycetes were the most abundant bacterial phyla across the treatments. Indicator species analysis identified nine indicator phyla. Planctomycetes, Armatimonadetes and candidate phylum FBP were associated with soybean; Proteobacteria and Firmicutes were linked with sugarcane and Gemmatimonadetes, Nitrospirae, Rokubacteria and unclassified bacteria were associated with fallowed soil. Non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis showed distinct groupings of bacterial operational taxonomic units (97% identity) according to management system (soybean, sugarcane or fallow) indicating compositional differences among treatments. This is confirmed by the results of the multi-response permutation procedures (A = 0.541, p = 0.00045716). No correlation between soil parameters and bacterial community structure was observed according to Mantel test (r = 211865, p = 0.14). Use of soybean cover-crop fostered bacterial diversity and altered community structure. This indicates cover crops could have a restorative effect and potentially promote sustainability in long-term Saccharum production systems.

Field Data↗
DOE OSTI2026

Data for KETCHUP: Parameterizing of Large-Scale Kinetic Models Using Multiple Datasets with Different Reference States

Repository for Kinetic Estimation Tool Capturing Heterogeneous Datasets Using Pyomo (KETCHUP), a flexible parameter estimation tool that leverages a primal-dual interior-point algorithm to solve a nonlinear programming (NLP) problem that identifies a set of parameters capable of recapitulating the steady-state fluxes and concentrations in wild-type and perturbed metabolic networks. KETCHUP can use K-FIT [2] input files. Example K-FIT input files are located in the K-FIT repository at https://github.com/maranasgroup/K-FIT.

Metabolomics↗
DOE OSTI2026

Data for "Metabolic Engineering Strategies to Produce Medium-Chain Oleochemicals via Acyl-ACP:CoA Transacylase Activity"

Microbial lipid metabolism is an attractive route for producing oleochemicals. The predominant strategy centers on heterologous thioesterases to synthesize desired chain-length fatty acids. To convert acids to oleochemicals (e.g., fatty alcohols, ketones), the narrowed fatty acid pool needs to be reactivated as coenzyme A thioesters at cost of one ATP per reactivation – an expense that could be saved if the acyl-chain was directly transferred from ACP- to CoA-thioester. Here, we demonstrate such an alternative acyl-transferase strategy by heterologous expression of PhaG, an enzyme first identified in Pseudomonads, that transfers 3-hydroxy acyl-chains between acyl-carrier protein and coenzyme A thioester forms for creating polyhydroxyalkanoate monomers. We use it to create a pool of acyl-CoA’s that can be redirected to oleochemical products. Through bioprospecting, mutagenesis, and metabolic engineering, we develop three strains of Escherichia coli capable of producing over 1 g/L of medium-chain free fatty acids, fatty alcohols, and methyl ketones.

Bioproducts↗
DOE OSTI2025

Data for "Discovery, Characterization, and Application of Chromosomal Integration Sites in the Hyperthermophilic Archaeon Sulfolobus islandicus"

Sulfolobus islandicus , an emerging archaeal model organism, offers unique advantages for metabolic engineering and synthetic biology applications owing to its ability to thrive in extreme environments. Although several genetic tools have been established for this organism, the lack of well-characterized chromosomal integration sites has limited its potential as a cellular factory. Here, we systematically identified and characterized 13 artificial CRISPR RNAs targeting eight integration sites in S. islandicus using the CRISPR-COPIES pipeline and a multi-omics-informed computational workflow. We leveraged the endogenous CRISPR-Cas system to integrate the reporter gene lacS and validated heterologous expression through a β-galactosidase assay, revealing significant positional effects. As a proof of concept, we utilized these sites to genetically manipulate lipid ether composition by overexpressing glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraether (GDGT) ring synthase B (GrsB). This study expands the genetic toolbox for S. islandicus and advances its potential as a robust platform for archaeal synthetic biology and industrial biotechnology.

AI/ML↗
DOE OSTI2026

Plant-Nitrifier Interactions in Topsoil and Subsoil

Plants can influence soil microbes through resource acquisition and interference competition, with consequences for ecosystem function such as nitrification. However, how plants alter soil conditions to influence nitrifiers and nitrification rates remains poorly understood, especially in the subsoil. Here, coupling the 15N isotopic pool dilution technique, high throughput sequencing and in situ soil O2 monitoring, we investigated how a deep-rooted perennial grass, miscanthus, versus an adjacent shallow-rooted turfgrass reference shapes nitrifier assembly and function along 1 m soil profiles. In topsoil, the suppression of ammonia (NH3) oxidizing archaea (AOA) and gross nitrification rates in miscanthus relative to the reference likely resulted from nitrifiers being outcompeted by plant roots and heterotrophic bacteria for ammonium (NH4+). The stronger tripartite competition under miscanthus may have been caused in part by the lower soil organic matter (SOM) content, which supported lower gross nitrogen (N) mineralization, the major soil process that produces NH4+. In contrast, below 10 cm soil depth, significantly greater gross nitrification rates were observed in miscanthus compared to the reference. This was likely driven by the significantly lower oxygen (O2) in miscanthus than reference subsoil, which selected against aerobic heterotrophic bacteria but in favor of AOA. Overall, we found that plants can regulate AOA community structure and function through different mechanisms in topsoil and subsoil, with suppression of nitrification in topsoil and enhancement of nitrification in subsoil.

Field Data↗