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Title: Functional Analysis of Cellulose Synthase CesA4 and CesA6 Genes in Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) by Overexpression and RNAi-Mediated Gene Silencing

Journal Article · · Frontiers in Plant Science
 [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [4];  [5]; ORCiD logo [2];  [1];  [6];  [7];  [7]; ORCiD logo [7];  [6];  [6];  [3];  [8];  [4];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States). Department of Plant Sciences; Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). BioEnergy Science Center
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). BioEnergy Science Center and Biosciences Division, Joint Institute for Biological Science
  3. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). BioEnergy Science Center; Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA (United States). Complex Carbohydrate Research Center
  4. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States). Center for Renewable Carbon
  5. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). BioEnergy Science Center; Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States). Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
  6. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). BioEnergy Science Center; Noble Research Institute, Ardmore, OK (United States)
  7. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  8. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). BioEnergy Science Center and Biosciences Division, Joint Institute for Biological Science; Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States). Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is a leading lignocellulosic bioenergy feedstock. Cellulose is a major component of the plant cell walls and the primary substrate for saccharification. Accessibility of cellulose to enzymatic breakdown into fermentable sugars is limited by the presence of lignin in the plant cell wall. In this study, putatively novel switchgrass secondary cell wall cellulose synthase PvCesA4 and primary cell wall PvCesA6 genes were identified and their functional role in cellulose synthesis and cell wall composition was examined by overexpression and knockdown of the individual genes in switchgrass. The endogenous expression of PvCesA4 and PvCesA6 genes varied among including roots, leaves, stem, and reproductive tissues. Increasing or decreasing PvCesA4 and PvCesA6 expression to extreme levels in the transgenic lines resulted in decreased biomass production. PvCesA6-overexpressing lines had reduced lignin content and syringyl/guaiacyl lignin monomer ratio accompanied by increased sugar release efficiency, suggesting an impact of PvCesA6 expression levels on lignin biosynthesis. Cellulose content and cellulose crystallinity were decreased, while xylan content was increased in PvCesA4 and PvCesA6 overexpression or knockdown lines. The increase in xylan content suggests that the amount of non-cellulosic cell wall polysaccharide was modified in these plants. Taken together, the results show that the manipulation of the cellulose synthase genes alters the cell wall composition and availability of cellulose as a bioprocessing substrate.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308; AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1468520
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1468056
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-2700-72304
Journal Information:
Frontiers in Plant Science, Vol. 9; ISSN 1664-462X
Publisher:
Frontiers Research FoundationCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 19 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Secondary Wall Regulating NACs Differentially Bind at the Promoter at a CELLULOSE SYNTHASE A4 Cis-eQTL journal December 2018
Increase in Cell Wall Thickening and Biomass Production by Overexpression of PmCesA2 in Poplar journal February 2020