Increase of Cinnamaldehyde Groups in Lignin of Transgenic Tobacco Plants Carrying an Antisense Gene for Cinnamyl Alcohol Dehydrogenase

Hibino, Takashi; Takabe, Keiji; Kawazu, Tetsu; Shibata, Daisuke; Higuchi, Takayoshi

doi:10.1271/bbb.59.929

Cited by 84 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 6 publications

(8 reference statements)

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“…The causes for these inconsistent results are not known. Results for CAD transgenic plants with reduced enzyme activity have been more consistent with all reports to date indicating no change in lignin concentration compared with normal tobacco plants, but alterations have always been observed in lignin composition (Hibino et al, 1995;Stewart et al, 1997;Yahiaoui et al, 1998).…”

Section: Ligninsupporting

confidence: 86%

Genetic Modification of Herbaceous Plants for Feed and Fuel

Vogel

Jung

2001

Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences

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Abstract:Much of the research on the genetic modification of herbaceous plant cell walls has been conducted to improve the utilization of forages by ruminant livestock. The rumen of these animals is basically an anaerobic fermentation vat in which the microflora break down the complex polysaccharides of plant cell walls into simpler compounds that can be further digested and absorbed by the mammalian digestive system. Research on improving the forage digestibility of switchgrass, Panicum virgatum L., and other herbaceous species has demonstrated that genetic improvements can be made in forage quality that can have significant economic value. To meet future energy needs, herbaceous biomass will need to be converted into a liquid fuel, probably ethanol, via conversion technologies still under development. If feedstock quality can be genetically improved, the economics and efficiency of the conversion processes could be significantly enhanced. Improving an agricultural product for improved end product use via genetic modification requires knowledge of desired quality attributes, the relative economic value of the quality parameters in relation to yield, genetic variation for the desired traits, or for molecular breeding, knowledge of genes to suppress or add, and knowledge of any associated negative consequences of genetic manipulation. Because conversion technology is still under development, desirable plant feedstock characteristics have not been completely delineated. Some traits such as cellulose and lignin concentration will undoubtably be important. Once traits that affect biomass feedstock conversion are identified, it will be highly feasible to genetically modify the feedstock quality of herbaceous plants using both conventional and molecular breeding techniques. The use of molecular markers and transformation technology will greatly enhance the capability of breeders to modify the morphologic structure and cell walls of herbaceous species. It will be necessary to monitor gene flow to remnant wild populations of biomass plants and have strategies available to curtail gene flow if it becomes a potential problem. It will also be necessary to monitor plant survival and longterm productivity as affected by these genetic changes to herbaceous species.

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Section: Ligninsupporting

confidence: 86%

Genetic Modification of Herbaceous Plants for Feed and Fuel

Vogel

Jung

2001

Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences

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“…It is worth noting that the coloration of the xylem seems to be a typical feature of either naturally occurring mutants, or genetically engineered mutants, and can be observed in response to the defects of different lignification genes, although the chemical determinant in each case may be different. Indeed, a reddish coloration was observed as a con-sequence of CAD downregulation in tobacco (Halpin et al, 1994;Hibino et al, 1995;Yahiaoui et al, 1997) and poplar (Baucher et al, 1996) and was reminiscent of the coloration previously observed in maize and sorghum brown-midrib mutants (Kuc and Nelson, 1964), and more recently in the loblolly pine mutant containing a null CAD allele (MacKay et al, 1995). The red coloration in the xylem of CAD downregulated plants is likely due to a higher proportion of conjugated cinnamaldehydes incorporated into the lignin polymer (Baucher et al, 1996;Higuchi et al, 1994;Yahiaoui et al, 1997).…”

Section: Plants With Low Ccr Activity Display An Orange-brown Coloratmentioning

confidence: 69%

Down‐regulation of Cinnamoyl‐CoA Reductase induces significant changes of lignin profiles in transgenic tobacco plants

Lapierre²,

et al. 1998

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“…In the case of down-regulation of CAD, the last enzyme in the classical monolignol pathway, reducing the formation of hydroxycinnamyl alcohols results in the incorporation of the corresponding aldehydes into lignin, leading to a wine-red lignin with increased extractability (Halpin et al, 1994;Higuchi et al, 1994;Hibino et al, 1995;Bernard-Vailhé et al, 1996). Reduction in the activity of the bispecific caffeic acid/ 5-hydroxyferulic acid O-methyltransferase in transgenic plants to less than 10% of wild-type levels resulted in qualitative changes in lignin composition (reduced S / G ratio), with no apparent effect on overall lignin content (Atanassova et al, 1995;Van Doorsselaere et al, 1995).…”

Section: Cenetic Manipulation Of Lignin Content In Transgenic Tobaccomentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduced Lignin Content and Altered Lignin Composition in Transgenic Tobacco Down-Regulated in Expression of L-Phenylalanine Ammonia-Lyase or Cinnamate 4-Hydroxylase

et al. 1997

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We analyzed lignin content and composition in transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) lines altered in the expression of the early phenylpropanoid biosynthetic enzymes L-phenylalanine ammonia-lyase and cinnamate 4-hydroxylase (C4H). The reduction of C4H activity by antisense expression or sense suppression resulted in reduced levels of Klason lignin, accompanied by a decreased syringyl/guaiacyl monomer ratio as determined by pyrolysis gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Similar reduction of lignin levels by down-regulation of i-phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, the enzyme preceding C4H in the central phenylpropanoid pathway, did not result in a decreased syringyl/guaiacyl ratio. Rather, analysis of lignin methoxyl content and pyrolysis suggested an increased syringyl/guaiacyl ratio. One possible explanation of these results is that monolignol biosynthesis from L-phenylalanine might occur by more than one route, even at the early stages of the core phenylpropanoid pathway, prior to the formation of specific monolignol precursors.There is currently intense interest in modifying the content and / or composition of the cell wall structural polymer lignin as a means of improving the efficiency of the paper pulping process for forest trees or of increasing digestibility of forages for ruminant animals (Whetten and Sederoff, 1991; Boudet and Grima-Pettenati, 1996; Campbell and Sederoff, 1996).Recent studies have concentrated on attempts to downregulate the levels of enzymes involved in the reactions specific for lignin monomer synthesis by expression of homologous or heterologous antisense genes in transgenic plants (Dwivedi et al., 1994;Halpin et al., 1994;Ni et al., 1994; Atanassova et al., 1995;Van Doorsselaere et al., 1995;Sewalt et al., 1997). Although the biosynthetic pathway to lignin monomers is relatively well understood, involving consecutive hydroxylation and O-methylation reactions leading from p-coumaric acid via ferulic acid (the monomethoxylated precursor of the G residues of lignin) to sinapic acid (the dimethoxylated precursor of the S residues of lignin), it has recently been suggested that parallel pathways of monomer hydroxylation and methylation could occur at the level of the COA thioesters (Ye et al., 1994) or even at the level of the aldehydes formed after the first reduction of the COA thioesters (Matsui et al., 1994; Fig. 1).The existence of a metabolic grid for the O-methylation of monolignols would complicate the interpretation of experiments in which a single enzyme of the pathway was down-regulated. Indeed, severa1 reports of the effects of antisense inhibition of enzymes involved in the late reactions of monolignol biosynthesis have presented unpredicted and sometimes contradictory results. Ni et al. (1994) reported that modest down-regulation of COMT activity in transgenic tobacco (Nicofiana fabacum) leads to a small reduction in lignin content with no significant change in lignin composition. However, other groups have shown that strong down-regulation of COMT in tobacco or poplar (Populu...

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Increase of Cinnamaldehyde Groups in Lignin of Transgenic Tobacco Plants Carrying an Antisense Gene for Cinnamyl Alcohol Dehydrogenase

Cited by 84 publications

References 6 publications

Genetic Modification of Herbaceous Plants for Feed and Fuel

Genetic Modification of Herbaceous Plants for Feed and Fuel

Down‐regulation of Cinnamoyl‐CoA Reductase induces significant changes of lignin profiles in transgenic tobacco plants

Reduced Lignin Content and Altered Lignin Composition in Transgenic Tobacco Down-Regulated in Expression of L-Phenylalanine Ammonia-Lyase or Cinnamate 4-Hydroxylase

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