Formation of a tree having a low lignin content
2001
Morohoshi, N. (Tokyo Univ. of Agriculture and Technology, Fuchu (Japan)) | Kajita, S.
It is important in the 21st century that resources and energy production are increased and solutions to environmental problems are found. One way to do this is to meet some of our food, resource and energy demands with biomass. The major chemical components of biomass are lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose. To utilize them effectively a super tree with an increased polysaccharide and decreased lignin content is needed. Eleven lines of transformants in which the expression of a peroxidase gene has been suppressed were analyzed chemically, biologically and histochemically. The results showed that the lignin content of the transformants was lower than that of the control. It became clear that the lignin content could be suppressed by an antisense RNA method using the peroxidase gene. From the chemical analysis, the lignin of the transformants was found to have more syringyl and uncondensed units than the control. This chemical change facilitated the conversion of biomass and pulping, as shown in a pulping test. It is therefore possible to make a super tree low in lignin and high in polysaccharide.
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