IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v7y2016i1d10.1038_ncomms11989.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Enhancing digestibility and ethanol yield of Populus wood via expression of an engineered monolignol 4-O-methyltransferase

Author

Listed:
  • Yuanheng Cai

    (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

  • Kewei Zhang

    (Brookhaven National Laboratory
    Present address: College of Chemistry and Life Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Zhejiang 321004, China.)

  • Hoon Kim

    (and the DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, The Wisconsin Energy Institute, University of Wisconsin)

  • Guichuan Hou

    (Dewel Microscopy Facility, Appalachian State University)

  • Xuebin Zhang

    (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

  • Huijun Yang

    (Brookhaven National Laboratory
    Present address: Department of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853-4203, USA.)

  • Huan Feng

    (Brookhaven National Laboratory
    Montclair State University)

  • Lisa Miller

    (National Synchrotron Light Source, Brookhaven National Laboratory)

  • John Ralph

    (and the DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, The Wisconsin Energy Institute, University of Wisconsin)

  • Chang-Jun Liu

    (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

Abstract

Producing cellulosic biofuels and bio-based chemicals from woody biomass is impeded by the presence of lignin polymer in the plant cell wall. Manipulating the monolignol biosynthetic pathway offers a promising approach to improved processability, but often impairs plant growth and development. Here, we show that expressing an engineered 4-O-methyltransferase that chemically modifies the phenolic moiety of lignin monomeric precursors, thus preventing their incorporation into the lignin polymer, substantially alters hybrid aspens’ lignin content and structure. Woody biomass derived from the transgenic aspens shows a 62% increase in the release of simple sugars and up to a 49% increase in the yield of ethanol when the woody biomass is subjected to enzymatic digestion and yeast-mediated fermentation. Moreover, the cell wall structural changes do not affect growth and biomass production of the trees. Our study provides a useful strategy for tailoring woody biomass for bio-based applications.

Suggested Citation

  • Yuanheng Cai & Kewei Zhang & Hoon Kim & Guichuan Hou & Xuebin Zhang & Huijun Yang & Huan Feng & Lisa Miller & John Ralph & Chang-Jun Liu, 2016. "Enhancing digestibility and ethanol yield of Populus wood via expression of an engineered monolignol 4-O-methyltransferase," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-14, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms11989
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11989
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms11989
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms11989?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ulaganathan, Kandasamy & Goud, Sravanthi & Reddy, Madhavi & Kayalvili, Ulaganathan, 2017. "Genome engineering for breaking barriers in lignocellulosic bioethanol production," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 1080-1107.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms11989. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.