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Title: Field Evaluation of Transgenic Switchgrass Plants Overexpressing PvMYB4 for Reduced Biomass Recalcitrance

Abstract

High biomass yields and minimal agronomic input requirements have made switchgrass, Panicum virgatum L., a leading candidate lignocellulosic bioenergy crop. Large-scale lignocellulosic biofuel production from such crops is limited by the difficulty to deconstruct cell walls into fermentable sugars: the recalcitrance problem. In this study, we assessed the field performance of switchgrass plants overexpressing the switchgrass MYB4 (PvMYB4) transcription factor gene. PvMYB4 transgenic switchgrass can have great lignin reduction, which commensurately increases sugar release and biofuel production. Our results over two growing seasons showed that one transgenic event (out of eight) had important gains in both biofuel (32% more) and biomass (63% more) at the end of the second growing season relative to non-transgenic controls. These gains represent a doubling of biofuel production per hectare, which is the highest gain reported from any field-grown modified feedstock. In contrast to this transgenic event, which had relatively low ectopic overexpression of the transgene, five of the eight transgenic events planted did not survive the first field winter. The dead plants were all high-overexpressing events that performed well in the earlier greenhouse studies. Disease susceptibility was not compromised in any transgenic events over the field experiments. These results demonstrate the power of modifyingmore » the expression of an endogenous transcription factor to improve biofuel and biomass simultaneously, and also highlight the importance of field studies for "sorting" transgenic events. In conclusion, further research is needed to develop strategies for fine-tuning temporal-spatial transgene expression in feedstocks to optimize desired phenotypes.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [4];  [3];  [4];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). BioEnergy Science Center (BESC)
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). BioEnergy Science Center (BESC) and Biosciences Divison
  3. Univ. of North Texas, Denton, TX (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). BioEnergy Science Center (BESC)
  4. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). BioEnergy Science Center (BESC)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
OSTI Identifier:
1327634
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
BioEnergy Research
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 8; Journal Issue: 3; Journal ID: ISSN 1939-1234
Publisher:
Springer
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
09 BIOMASS FUELS; 59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; MYB4; Field trial; Lignocellulosic biofuel; Switchgrass

Citation Formats

Baxter, Holly L., Poovaiah, Charleson R., Yee, Kelsey L., Mazarei, Mitra, Rodriguez, Miguel, Thompson, Olivia A., Shen, Hui, Turner, Geoffrey B., Decker, Stephen R., Sykes, Robert W., Chen, Fang, Davis, Mark F., Mielenz, Jonathan R., Davison, Brian H., Dixon, Richard A., and Stewart, C. Neal. Field Evaluation of Transgenic Switchgrass Plants Overexpressing PvMYB4 for Reduced Biomass Recalcitrance. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1007/s12155-014-9570-1.
Baxter, Holly L., Poovaiah, Charleson R., Yee, Kelsey L., Mazarei, Mitra, Rodriguez, Miguel, Thompson, Olivia A., Shen, Hui, Turner, Geoffrey B., Decker, Stephen R., Sykes, Robert W., Chen, Fang, Davis, Mark F., Mielenz, Jonathan R., Davison, Brian H., Dixon, Richard A., & Stewart, C. Neal. Field Evaluation of Transgenic Switchgrass Plants Overexpressing PvMYB4 for Reduced Biomass Recalcitrance. United States. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-014-9570-1
Baxter, Holly L., Poovaiah, Charleson R., Yee, Kelsey L., Mazarei, Mitra, Rodriguez, Miguel, Thompson, Olivia A., Shen, Hui, Turner, Geoffrey B., Decker, Stephen R., Sykes, Robert W., Chen, Fang, Davis, Mark F., Mielenz, Jonathan R., Davison, Brian H., Dixon, Richard A., and Stewart, C. Neal. Wed . "Field Evaluation of Transgenic Switchgrass Plants Overexpressing PvMYB4 for Reduced Biomass Recalcitrance". United States. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-014-9570-1. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1327634.
@article{osti_1327634,
title = {Field Evaluation of Transgenic Switchgrass Plants Overexpressing PvMYB4 for Reduced Biomass Recalcitrance},
author = {Baxter, Holly L. and Poovaiah, Charleson R. and Yee, Kelsey L. and Mazarei, Mitra and Rodriguez, Miguel and Thompson, Olivia A. and Shen, Hui and Turner, Geoffrey B. and Decker, Stephen R. and Sykes, Robert W. and Chen, Fang and Davis, Mark F. and Mielenz, Jonathan R. and Davison, Brian H. and Dixon, Richard A. and Stewart, C. Neal},
abstractNote = {High biomass yields and minimal agronomic input requirements have made switchgrass, Panicum virgatum L., a leading candidate lignocellulosic bioenergy crop. Large-scale lignocellulosic biofuel production from such crops is limited by the difficulty to deconstruct cell walls into fermentable sugars: the recalcitrance problem. In this study, we assessed the field performance of switchgrass plants overexpressing the switchgrass MYB4 (PvMYB4) transcription factor gene. PvMYB4 transgenic switchgrass can have great lignin reduction, which commensurately increases sugar release and biofuel production. Our results over two growing seasons showed that one transgenic event (out of eight) had important gains in both biofuel (32% more) and biomass (63% more) at the end of the second growing season relative to non-transgenic controls. These gains represent a doubling of biofuel production per hectare, which is the highest gain reported from any field-grown modified feedstock. In contrast to this transgenic event, which had relatively low ectopic overexpression of the transgene, five of the eight transgenic events planted did not survive the first field winter. The dead plants were all high-overexpressing events that performed well in the earlier greenhouse studies. Disease susceptibility was not compromised in any transgenic events over the field experiments. These results demonstrate the power of modifying the expression of an endogenous transcription factor to improve biofuel and biomass simultaneously, and also highlight the importance of field studies for "sorting" transgenic events. In conclusion, further research is needed to develop strategies for fine-tuning temporal-spatial transgene expression in feedstocks to optimize desired phenotypes.},
doi = {10.1007/s12155-014-9570-1},
journal = {BioEnergy Research},
number = 3,
volume = 8,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jan 07 00:00:00 EST 2015},
month = {Wed Jan 07 00:00:00 EST 2015}
}

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Cited by: 39 works
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Figures / Tables:

Fig. 1 Fig. 1: Lignin content and S/G ratio of senesced biomass samples were estimated by py-MBMS for 2012 (a, b) and 2013 (c, d). Each independent transgenic event (L1, L6, L8) was compared to an average of three ST1 wild-type controls. Bars represent the mean of the biological replicates for eachmore » transgenic event (n=3) and control (n=9) ± standard error. Means were analyzed with a one-way ANOVA, and letter groupings were obtained using Fisher’s least significant difference method. Bars with the same letter do not differ significantly at the 5 % level. CWR cell wall residues« less

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