Genetic Plant Study May Improve Biofuel Production

Scientists have been learning more and more about the organisms in our world through genetic studies. Now, they've uncovered the gene regulatory networks of plants that control cell wall thickening by the synthesis of the three polymers, cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. The findings could mean a more efficient way to convert plant biomass to biofuel.

Lignin represents a major impediment to extracting sugars from plant biomass that can make biofuels. Yet understanding the gene network could mean that scientists could develop methods to reduce the amount of lignin in the plant and thus improve biofuel production.

There are three key components found in plant tissues known as xylem, which provide plants with mechanical strength and waterproof cells that transport water. In this latest study, the scientists examined how a large number of interconnected transcription factors regulate xylem and cell wall thickening.

The researchers screened more than 460 transcription factors expressed in root xylem to explore their ability to bind the promoters of about 50 genes known to be involved in processes that produce cell-wall components. This revealed that there's a highly interconnected network of more than 240 genes and more than 600 protein-DNA interactions. In addition, they found that each cell-wall gene in the xylem network is bound by about five different transcription factors from 35 distinct families of regulatory proteins.

In other words, most of the proteins bind directly to cellulose genes and to other transcription regulators. This gives plants a huge number of possible combinations for responding and adapting to environmental stress such as salt or drought.

The findings could mean a new way to manipulate plants that could help biofuel production in the future.

The findings are published in the journal Nature.

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