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The global population is expected to increase by approximately 3 billion people by 2050. With this increase in population, industry, transportation the cost of fossil fuels will grow dramatically. New technologies are needed for fuel extraction using feedstocks that do not threaten food security, cause minimal or no loss of natural habitat and soil carbon. At the same time, waste management has to be improved and environmental pollution should be minimized or eliminated. Liquid biofuels such as lignocellulosic‐based ethanol from plant biomass and algal‐based biodiesel are sustainable, alternative biofuels that could stabilize national security and provide clean energy for future generations. Ideally, the technology should also foster recycling of agricultural feedstocks and improve soil fertility and human health. This article provides updated information on the energy potential and breadth of liquid biofuel biotechnology.

UDC 547.944 Freeze-dried olive fruits from Italian cultivars such as Carolea, Cassanese, and Coratina were analyzed by HPLC-MS. During different stages of maturation of olive fruits, the biophenolic (antioxidant) composition was examined. Twelve biophenolic compounds, viz. hydroxytyrosol, tyrosol, oleoside 11-methyl ester, demethyloleuropein, verbascoside, demethylligstoside, oleacin, oleuropeindiale, demethyloleuropeindiale, oleuropein, ligstroside, and elenolate were identified by HPLC-MS. Oleuropein, the major olive fruit soluble biophenolic fraction, decreased significantly during fruit maturation and showed significant differences between olive cultivars. Coratina drupes extracted from October month contained a higher amount of biophenols than other mono-cultivar extracted drupes.

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Plants are the richest source for different bioactive molecules. Because of the vast number of side effects associated with synthetic pharmaceuticals, medical biotechnologists turned to nature to provide new promising therapeutic molecules from plant biofactories. The large-scale availability of the disease- and pesticide-free raw material is, however, restricted in vivo. Many bioactive plant secondary metabolites are accumulated in roots. Engineered plants can also produce human therapeutic proteins. Vaccines and diagnostic monoclonal antibodies can be won from their roots, so that engineered plants hold immense potential for the biopharmaceutical industry. To obtain sufficient amounts of the plant bioactive molecules for application in human therapy, adventitious and hairy roots have to be cultured in in vitro systems. High-tech pilot-scale bioreactor technology for the establishment of a long-term adventitious root culture from biopharmaceutical plants has recently been established. In this review, I briefly discuss a technology for cultivating bioactive molecule-rich adventitious and hairy roots from plants using a high-tech bioreactor system, as well as the principles and application of genome-restructuring mechanisms for plant-based biopharmaceutical production from roots. High-tech bioreactor-derived bioactive phytomolecules and biopharmaceuticals hold the prospect of providing permanent remedies for improving human well-being.

Globally, one of the major technologic goals is to achieve cost-effective lignocellulosic ethanol production from biomass feedstocks. Lignocellulosic biomass of four dedicated energy crops [giant reed (Arundo donax L.), elephantgrass (Pennisetum purpureum (Schumach), Miscanthus × giganteus (Illinois clone), and (clone Q42641) {hybrid of Miscanthus sinensis Anderss. and Miscanthus sacchariflorus (Maxim)}, Hack. called giant miscanthus, and sugarcane clone US 84-1028 (Saccharum L. spp. hybrid)] and residues from two crops [soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) litter and rice (Oryza sativa L.) husk] were tested for bioethanol production using cellulose solvent-based lignocellulose fractionation (CSLF) pretreatment and enzymatic (cellulase) hydrolysis. Giant miscanthus (Illinois), giant reed, giant miscanthus (Q42641), elephantgrass, and sugarcane all yielded higher amount of glucose on a biomass dry weight basis (0.290-0.331 g/g), than did rice husk (0.181 g/g) and soybean litter (0.186 g/g). To reduce the capital investment for energy consumption in fermentation, we used a self-flocculating yeast strain (SPSC01) to ferment the lignocellulosic biomass hydrolysates. Bioethanol production was ∼0.1 g/g in dedicated energy crops and less in two crop residues. These methods and data can help to develop a cost-effective downstream process for bioethanol production.

Olive oil and table olives are rich sources of biophenols, which provides a unique taste, aroma and potential health benefits. Specifically, green olive drupes are enriched with oleuropein, a bioactive biophenol secoiridoid. Olive oil contains hydrolytic derivatives such as hydroxytyrosol, oleacein and elenolate from oleuropein as well as tyrosol and oleocanthal from ligstroside. Biophenol secoiridoids are categorized by the presence of elenoic acid or its derivatives in their molecular structure. Medical studies suggest that olive biophenol secoiridoids could prevent cancer, obesity, osteoporosis, and neurodegeneration. Therefore, understanding the biomolecular dynamics of oleuropein can potentially improve olive-based functional foods and nutraceuticals. This review provides a critical assessment of oleuropein biomolecular mechanism and computational mapping that could contribute to nutrigenomics.