Dataset Information

Systematic approaches to C-lignin engineering in Medicago truncatula.

ABSTRACT:

Background

C-lignin is a homopolymer of caffeyl alcohol present in the seed coats of a variety of plant species including vanilla orchid, various cacti, and the ornamental plant Cleome hassleriana. Because of its unique chemical and physical properties, there is considerable interest in engineering C-lignin into the cell walls of bioenergy crops as a high-value co-product of bioprocessing. We have used information from a transcriptomic analysis of developing C. hassleriana seed coats to suggest strategies for engineering C-lignin in a heterologous system, using hairy roots of the model legume Medicago truncatula.

Results

We systematically tested strategies for C-lignin engineering using a combination of gene overexpression and RNAi-mediated knockdown in the caffeic acid/5-hydroxy coniferaldehyde 3/5-O-methyltransferase (comt) mutant background, monitoring the outcomes by analysis of lignin composition and profiling of monolignol pathway metabolites. In all cases, C-lignin accumulation required strong down-regulation of caffeoyl CoA 3-O-methyltransferase (CCoAOMT) paired with loss of function of COMT. Overexpression of the Selaginella moellendorffii ferulate 5-hydroxylase (SmF5H) gene in comt mutant hairy roots resulted in lines that unexpectedly accumulated high levels of S-lignin.

Conclusion

C-Lignin accumulation of up to 15% of total lignin in lines with the greatest reduction in CCoAOMT expression required the strong down-regulation of both COMT and CCoAOMT, but did not require expression of a heterologous laccase, cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD) or cinnamoyl CoA reductase (CCR) with preference for 3,4-dihydroxy-substituted substrates in M. truncatula hairy roots. Cell wall fractionation studies suggested that the engineered C-units are not present in a heteropolymer with the bulk of the G-lignin.

SUBMITTER: Ha CM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10262568 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Systematic approaches to C-lignin engineering in Medicago truncatula.

Ha Chan Man CM Escamilla-Trevino Luis L Zhuo Chunliu C Pu Yunqiao Y Bryant Nathan N Ragauskas Arthur J AJ Xiao Xirong X Li Ying Y Chen Fang F Dixon Richard A RA

Biotechnology for biofuels and bioproducts 20230612 1

<h4>Background</h4>C-lignin is a homopolymer of caffeyl alcohol present in the seed coats of a variety of plant species including vanilla orchid, various cacti, and the ornamental plant Cleome hassleriana. Because of its unique chemical and physical properties, there is considerable interest in engineering C-lignin into the cell walls of bioenergy crops as a high-value co-product of bioprocessing. We have used information from a transcriptomic analysis of developing C. hassleriana seed coats to ...[more]

PMID: 37308891

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundLegumes (Leguminosae or Fabaceae) play a major role in agriculture. Transcriptomics studies in the model legume species, Medicago truncatula, are instrumental in helping to formulate hypotheses about the role of legume genes. With the rapid growth of publically available Affymetrix GeneChip Medicago Genome Array GeneChip data from a great range of tissues, cell types, growth conditions, and stress treatments, the legume research community desires an effective bioinformatics system to aid efforts to interpret the Medicago genome through functional genomics. We developed the Medicago truncatula Gene Expression Atlas (MtGEA) web server for this purpose.DescriptionThe Medicago truncatula Gene Expression Atlas (MtGEA) web server is a centralized platform for analyzing the Medicago transcriptome. Currently, the web server hosts gene expression data from 156 Affymetrix GeneChip(R) Medicago genome arrays in 64 different experiments, covering a broad range of developmental and environmental conditions. The server enables flexible, multifaceted analyses of transcript data and provides a range of additional information about genes, including different types of annotation and links to the genome sequence, which help users formulate hypotheses about gene function. Transcript data can be accessed using Affymetrix probe identification number, DNA sequence, gene name, functional description in natural language, GO and KEGG annotation terms, and InterPro domain number. Transcripts can also be discovered through co-expression or differential expression analysis. Flexible tools to select a subset of experiments and to visualize and compare expression profiles of multiple genes have been implemented. Data can be downloaded, in part or full, in a tabular form compatible with common analytical and visualization software. The web server will be updated on a regular basis to incorporate new gene expression data and genome annotation, and is accessible at: http://bioinfo.noble.org/gene-atlas/.ConclusionsThe MtGEA web server has a well managed rich data set, and offers data retrieval and analysis tools provided in the web platform. It's proven to be a powerful resource for plant biologists to effectively and efficiently identify Medicago transcripts of interest from a multitude of aspects, formulate hypothesis about gene function, and overall interpret the Medicago genome from a systematic point of view.

Dataset Information

Systematic approaches to C-lignin engineering in Medicago truncatula.

Background

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Systematic approaches to C-lignin engineering in Medicago truncatula.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets