Change in lignin structure, but not in lignin content, in transgenic poplar overexpressing the rice master regulator of secondary cell wall biosynthesis

Journal Article · Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 2018 · Physiologia Plantarum

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/ppl.12684· OSTI ID:1419090

Nuoendagula, ^[1]; Tsuji, Yukiko ^[2]; Takata, Naoki ^[3]; Sakamoto, Shingo ^[4]; Nakagawa‐Izumi, Akiko ^[5]; Taniguchi, Toru ^[3]; Ralph, John ^[2]; Mitsuda, Nobutaka ^[4]; Kajita, Shinya  ^[1]

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1. Graduate School of Bio‐Applications and Systems Engineering Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Koganei Tokyo 184‐8588 Japan
2. US Department of Energy, Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center Wisconsin Energy Institute, University of Wisconsin Madison WI 53726 USA, Department of Biochemistry University of Wisconsin Madison WI 53706 USA
3. Forest Bio‐Research Center Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Forest Research and Management Organization, Hitachi Ibaraki 319‐1301 Japan
4. Bioproduction Research Institute National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba Ibaraki 305‐8566 Japan
5. Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba Ibaraki 305‐8572 Japan

We previously succeeded in enhancing wood formation of wood in transgenic poplar plants by overexpressing secondary wall NAM/ATAF/CUC (NAC) domain protein 1 from Oryza sativa ( OsSWN1 ), a transcription factor ‘master regulator’ of secondary cell wall formation in rice, under control of the fiber preferential NST3/SND1 promoter from Arabidopsis. Transgenic plants had an increased cell wall thickness and cell wall density of individual cells in the secondary xylem of stems as well as an increased wood density. OsSWN1 triggers the induction of polysaccharide and lignin biosynthetic gene expressions, however, resulting in no significant impact on the lignin content in the transgenic plants. In contrast, wet and dry chemical analyses of lignin revealed changes in S/G ratio and in the composition of lignin interunit linkages in transgenic lines. The results from gene expression analysis suggest that the structural changes in lignin were due to an unbalanced induction of lignin biosynthetic genes in transgenic lines. Our present data indicate that the overexpression of the chimeric transcription factor causes accelerated deposition of secondary cell wall components including lignin and polysaccharides through an acquired mechanism.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: DE‐FC02‐07ER64494
• OSTI ID: 1419090
• Journal Information: Physiologia Plantarum, Journal Name: Physiologia Plantarum Vol. 163 Journal Issue: 2; ISSN 0031-9317
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Country of Publication: Denmark
• Language: English