The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Missouri, has announced a $25 million gift from Enterprise Rent-A-Car founder Jack Taylor and his wife, Susan, to create the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Institute for Renewable Fuels.

The Taylors' gift, which was matched by the Danforth Foundation to close the center's $100 million Campaign for a Green Future, will endow a team of thirty researchers — twelve of whom will be recruited over the next three years to join eighteen Danforth scientists — to expand the center's research capabilities. In addition, the center will recruit a biofuel research scientist to direct the institute. Named for the company Taylor established in 1957, the institute will help the Danforth Center to speed the development of plant-based renewable biofuels, which decrease the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and could reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

"The issue of growing plants to provide a source of food while at the same time meeting our increasing demand for renewable energy is of greater concern each day," said Danforth Center president Roger N. Beachy. "This commitment from Jack and Susan Taylor will advance our efforts to unlock novel scientific ideas that ultimately will lead to renewable biofuels that are plentiful and cost-effective."