CELLWALL

Projektbeschreibung

A major obstacle for development of second generation ligno-cellulosic biofuels, and chemicals, is the recalcitrance of the biomass to conversion into fermentable sugars, referred to as saccharification. One intensively studied way to reduce the recalcitrance to saccharification is by genetically modifying the activity of specific biosynthetic enzymes. However, such alterations are often compensated for by an increase in other cell wall polymers, and may affect plant growth and fitness. This proposal lays the foundation for an alternative, less-explored approach based on targeting the regulation of secondary cell wall deposition. The strategy aims at identifying key transcription factors and protein kinases that regulate specific networks of genes encoding cell wall biosynthetic enzymes, and cell wall proteins in cell types with different secondary cell wall composition. Manipulation of the expression of such regulators should eventually enable the digestibility of biomass feedstocks to be improved by enriching the tissues for secondary cell walls composed of more easily digestible polymers. Two model species will be used; Arabidopsis thaliana and the model energy crop Brachypodium distachyon. This proposal brings together specialists in bioinformatics, genomics, glycobiology, proteomics, cell and developmental biology, and a biotechnology company interested in transferring the knowledge generated in this program to dedicated bio-energy feedstocks.

Projektpartner

Staffan Persson
MPI für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie
Potsdam, Deutschland

Elisabeth Jamet
Surfaces Cellulaires et Signalisation chez les Végétaux
Castanet-Tolosan, France

Herman Höfte
Laboratoire de Biologie Cellulaire UR501
Institut Jean-Pierre Bourgin, INRA
Versailles, France

Ignacio Zarra Cameselle
Departamento de Fisiología Vegetal
Facultad de Biología
Universidad de Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Hugo Alonso
Synergia Bionostra, S.L.
Ronda de Poiente, 4
Madrid, Spain