Variation in content and composition of lignin in young wood of Norway spruce

Abstract

Lignin content and composition are important traits in several tree breeding programs, but very little is known about their natural variation. This study compares the lignin content in 1-year-old plants and 9-year-old trees of Norway spruce belonging to the same full-sib families. It is shown that the lignin content, according to the modified acetyl bromide method, does not vary significantly within or among the different full-sib families either as plants or as young trees. There is, however, on average 4.0% higher lignin content (31.4% versus 27.4%) and lower standard error for the trees than for the plants. The number of C9-units g y1 lignin, analyzed by thioacidolysis, ranges from 516 to 1186 mmol C9-units g y1 lignin in plants and from 716 to 953 mmol C9-units g y1 lignin in trees, with no significant differences among the families. However, the extent of change in C9-units g y1 lignin varies among the families with age. The ratio of erythro and threo stereoisomers does not vary significantly among the families. However, the ratio changes differently with age among the families similar to the C9-units g y1 lignin. Additionally, the content of p-hydroxyphenyl (H) lignin is 0.6% higher in the trees than in the plants (1.4% versus 0.8%), estimated indirectly from GC-MS data by a novel subtractive technique, indicating a higher degree of compression wood in the young trees. In conclusion, the amount and composition of lignin does not vary within or among the families at the same age. However, the amount of lignin increases with age while the change in lignin composition varies between family and age.

FTIR spectroscopic prediction of Klason and acid soluble lignin variation in Norway spruce cutting clones

“…The lignin content has been reported to decrease significantly in the radial direction from heartwood (28.3%) to sapwood (27.7%) and to be the lowest in the transition zone (27.3%) (Bertaud and Holmbom 2004). In earlier studies with 1-year-old plants and 9-year-old trees the lignin content did not vary significantly within and between full-sib families but was higher in trees than in plants and a standard error for the trees was lower than for the plants (Wadenbäck et al 2004). The amount of lignin is also affected by the reaction wood formation (Barnett and Jeronimidis 2003) and the 'pseudo lignification' during heartwood formation (Magel 2000).…”

Lignin biosynthesis in transgenic Norway spruce plants harboring an antisense construct for cinnamoyl CoA reductase (CCR)

“…cit.) essentially as described in Wadenbäck et al (2004). Each individual plant was measured in double samples.…”

“…About 5 mg of pooled material was used in the subsequent GC-MS on silylated thioacidolyis products and analyzed with the subtractive technique essentially described in Wadenbäck et al (2004).…”

“…In the non-condensed fraction of lignin, the content of H-lignin versus G-lignin (H/G) was studied after thioacidolysis using the GC-MS subtractive technique described in Wadenbäck et al (2004). The H/G-lignin ratio was 33.7% lower (0.61 percentage units) in plants from both lines A78:2 and A78:21, than in the transformed control plants.…”

Propensity of Lignin to Associate: Light Scattering Photometry Study with Native Lignins

“…1 However, very little is known about the natural variation of lignin content and its compositional traits in the wood of trees 2 despite the fact that 15-35% of it consists of lignin. Nevertheless, its function is essential: lignin is required for adequate retainment of water in the vascular system, for mechanical strength as the binding agent for the cellulose microfibril sheaths, and for resistance to insects and pathogens.…”