Altered Lignin Biosynthesis Improves Cellulosic Bioethanol Production in Transgenic Maize Plants Down-Regulated for Cinnamyl Alcohol Dehydrogenase
2012
Fornale, Silvia | Capellades, Montserrat | Encina, Antonio | Wang, Kan | Irar, Sami | Lapierre, Catherine | Ruel, Katia | Joseleau, Jean-Paul | Berenguer, Jordi | Puigdomenech, Pere | Rigau, Joan | Caparros-Ruiz, David | Lab Genet Mol Vegetal ; Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries = Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA) | Area Fisiol Vegetal ; Universidad de León [León] | Ctr Plant Transformat ; Iowa State University (ISU) | Institut Jean-Pierre Bourgin (IJPB) ; Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-AgroParisTech | Centre de Recherches sur les Macromolécules Végétales (CERMAV) ; Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF)-Institut de Chimie - CNRS Chimie (INC-CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | Spanish 'Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion' [AGL2008-05157]; European Community [QLK5-CT-2000-01493]; CONSOLIDER-INGENIO program [CSD2007-00036]; 'Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas'; Spanish 'Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia'; DGICYT [CGL2008-02470BOS]; Junta de Castilla y Leon [LE004A10-2]
Cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD) is a key enzyme involved in the last step of monolignol biosynthesis. The effect of CAD down-regulation on lignin production was investigated through a transgenic approach in maize. Transgenic CAD-RNAi plants show a different degree of enzymatic reduction depending on the analyzed tissue and show alterations in cell wall composition. Cell walls of CAD-RNAi stems contain a lignin polymer with a slight reduction in the S-to-G ratio without affecting the total lignin content. In addition, these cell walls accumulate higher levels of cellulose and arabinoxylans. In contrast, cell walls of CAD-RNAi midribs present a reduction in the total lignin content and of cell wall polysaccharides. In vitro degradability assays showed that, although to a different extent, the changes induced by the repression of CAD activity produced midribs and stems more degradable than wild-type plants. CAD-RNAi plants grown in the field presented a wild-type phenotype and produced higher amounts of dry biomass. Cellulosic bioethanol assays revealed that CAD-RNAi biomass produced higher levels of ethanol compared to wild-type, making CAD a good target to improve both the nutritional and energetic values of maize lignocellulosic biomass.
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