TALEN mediated targeted mutagenesis of the caffeic acid O-methyltransferase in highly polyploid sugarcane improves cell wall composition for production of bioethanol.

ABSTRACT: Sugarcane (Saccharum spp. hybrids) is a prime crop for commercial biofuel production. Advanced conversion technology utilizes both, sucrose accumulating in sugarcane stems as well as cell wall bound sugars for commercial ethanol production. Reduction of lignin content significantly improves the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into ethanol. Conventional mutagenesis is not expected to confer reduction in lignin content in sugarcane due to its high polyploidy (x = 10-13) and functional redundancy among homo(eo)logs. Here we deploy transcription activator-like effector nuclease (TALEN) to induce mutations in a highly conserved region of the caffeic acid O-methyltransferase (COMT) of sugarcane. Capillary electrophoresis (CE) was validated by pyrosequencing as reliable and inexpensive high

SUBMITTER: Jung JH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4999463 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature