Downregulation of barley ferulate 5-hydroxylase dramatically alters straw lignin structure without impact on mechanical properties
2023
Shafiei, Reza | Hooper, Matthew | Mcclellan, Christopher | Oakey, Helena | Stephens, Jennifer | Lapierre, Catherine | Tsuji, Yukiko | Goeminne, Geert | Vanholme, Ruben | Boerjan, Wout | Ralph, John | Halpin, Claire | The James Hutton Institute | University of Dundee | University of Adelaide | Cell and Molecular Sciences ; The James Hutton Institute | Airbus [United Kingdom] ; Airbus [France] | Institut Jean-Pierre Bourgin - Sciences du végétal (IJPB) ; AgroParisTech-Université Paris-Saclay-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE) | Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center [New York] ; Rockefeller University [New York] | University of Wisconsin-Madison | Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie [Ghent, Belgique] (VIB) | Center for Plant Systems Biology (PSB Center) ; Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie [Ghent, Belgique] (VIB) | Universiteit Gent = Ghent University = Université de Gand (UGENT) | UK Research & Innovation (UKRI)Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)BB/G016232/1BB/N023455/1
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Show more [+] Less [-]English. Barley is a major cereal crop for temperate climates, and a diploid genetic model for polyploid wheat. Cereal straw biomass is an attractive source of feedstock for green technologies but lignin, a key determinant of feedstock recalcitrance, complicates bio-conversion processes. However, manipulating lignin content to improve the conversion process could negatively affect agronomic traits. An alternative approach is to manipulate lignin composition which influences the physical and chemical properties of straw. This study validates the function of a barley ferulate 5-hydroxylase gene and demonstrates that its downregulation using the RNA-interference approach substantially impacts lignin composition. We identified five barley genes having putative ferulate 5-hydroxylase activity. Downregulation of HvF5H1 substantially reduced the lignin syringyl/guaiacyl (S/G) ratio in straw while the lignin content, straw mechanical properties, plant growth habit, and grain characteristics all remained unaffected. Metabolic profiling revealed significant changes in the abundance of 173 features in the HvF5H1 -RNAi lines. The drastic changes in the lignin polymer of transgenic lines highlight the plasticity of barley lignification processes and the associated potential for manipulating and improving lignocellulosic biomass as a feedstock for green technologies. On the other hand, our results highlight some differences between the lignin biosynthetic pathway in barley, a temperate climate grass, and the warm climate grass, rice, and underscore potential diversity in the lignin biosynthetic pathways in grasses.
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