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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Madison, Wisconsin » U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #102948
Title: REPRESSION OF LIGNIN BIOSYNTHESIS PROMOTES CELLULOSE ACCUMULATION AND GROWTH IN TRANSGENIC TREES

Author
item HU, WEN-JING - MICHIGAN TECH
item LUNG, JRHAU - MICHIGAN TECH
item HARDING, SCOTT - MICHIGAN TECH
item POPKE, JACQUELINE - MICHIGAN TECH
item Ralph, John
item STOKKE, DOUGLAS - MICHIGAN TECH
item TSAI, CHUNG-JUI - MICHIGAN TECH
item CHIANG, VINCENT - MICHIGAN TECH

Submitted to: International Symposium on Wood and Pulping Chemistry
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/9/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Lignin and cellulose comprise 70% of wood mass and are responsible for the mechanical strength of trees. Transgenic aspen (Populus tremuloides) with suppressed expression of a lignin pathway gene (Pt4CL1) encoding 4-coumaric acid:coenzyme A ligase exhibited up to a 45% reduction of lignin, which was compensated for by a 15% increase in cellulose. As a result, the total lignin-cellulose mass remain unchanged. Structural integrity was maintaine and leaf, root and stem growth increased. The reduction of lignin with a concomitant increase in cellulose indicate that the deposition of these two structural components in trees may be regulated in a compensatory fashion not reported in herbaceous plants where altered lignin or cellulose biosynthesis often lead to loss of cellular structural integrity and to abnormal growth. Such regulation may provide metabolic flexibility to sustain the long term structural integrity of woody perennials.