Opportunity: Systems Biology Research to Advance Sustainable Bi

DOE-BER’s Genomic Science program supports fundamental research to identify the basic principles that drive biological systems. These principles govern translation of the genetic code into integrated networks of proteins, enzymes, regulatory elements, and metabolite pools underlying the functional processes of organisms. To address the DOE mission in sustainable bioenergy development the Genomic Science program brings omics-driven tools of modern systems biology to address key challenges facing the sustainable development of plant feedstocks as an economically and environmentally viable alternative to fossil fuels. The past decade has seen significant advances in systems biology and omics technologies which are beginning to map the complex networks and molecular mechanisms of plant and microbial growth, development, and metabolism. We are now poised to apply these tools to examine the impact(s) of a fully sustainable, bioenergy agriculture on ecosystems. Two areas vital to the Nation’s energy and environmental security motivate the BER research agenda: developing cost-effective cellulosic biofuels and improving our ability to understand, predict, and mitigate the impacts of energy production in the face of a changing climate. Towards this end, BER has invested in plant and plant-microbe research with the goal of advancing production of biofuels from domestic lignocellulosic sources. These efforts have increased our understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying feedstock productivity and facilitated development of next-generation bioenergy crops, knowledge that will promote novel, efficient bioenergy strategies that can be replicated on a mass scale. Implementation of this new “bioenergy agriculture” is likely to result in significant environmental changes. The components of the environments affected, ranging from hydrologic cycles to rhizosphere microbial communities, are interconnected and interdependent. Understanding the multi-organismal “