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Developmental Control of Lignification in Stems of Lowland Switchgrass Variety Alamo and the Effects on Saccharification Efficiency

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Abstract

The switchgrass variety Alamo has been chosen for genome sequencing, genetic breeding, and genetic engineering by the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (JGI) and the US Department of Energy BioEnergy Science Center. Lignin has been considered as a major obstacle for cellulosic biofuel production from switchgrass biomass. The purpose of this study was to provide baseline information on cell wall development in different parts of developing internodes of tillers of switchgrass cultivar Alamo and evaluate the effect of cell wall properties on biomass saccharification. Cell wall structure, soluble and wall-bound phenolics, and lignin content were analyzed from the top, middle, and bottom parts of internodes at different developmental stages using ultraviolet autofluorescence microscopy, histological staining methods, and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The examination of different parts of the developing internodes revealed differences in the stem structure during development, in the levels of free and well-bound phenolic compounds and lignin content, and in lignin pathway-related gene expression, indicating that the monolignol biosynthetic pathway in switchgrass is under complex spatial and temporal control. Our data clearly show that there was a strong negative correlation between overall lignin content and biomass saccharification efficiency. The ester-linked p-CA/FA ratio showed a positive correlation with lignin content and a negative correlation with sugar release. Our data provide baseline information to facilitate genetic modification of switchgrass recalcitrance traits for biofuel production.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Drs. Hiroshi Hisano and Luis Escamilla-Trevino for sharing switchgrass lignin biosynthetic gene sequences, David Huhman and Mohamed Bedair for assistance with MS analysis, and Dr. Richard A. Dixon for useful discussions. This work was supported by the US Department of Energy BioEnergy Science Center. The BioEnergy Science Center is a U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Research Center supported by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research in the DOE Office of Science.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plant Biology Division, Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, 2510 Sam Noble Parkway, Ardmore, OK, 73401, USA

    Hui Shen, Tui Ray, Yuhong Tang & Fang Chen

  2. Forage Improvement Division, Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, 2510 Sam Noble Parkway, Ardmore, OK, 73401, USA

    Chunxiang Fu, Xirong Xiao & Zengyu Wang

  3. DOE BioEnergy Science Center, Oak Ridge, TN, USA

    Hui Shen, Xirong Xiao, Yuhong Tang, Zengyu Wang & Fang Chen

Authors
  1. Hui Shen
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  2. Chunxiang Fu
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  3. Xirong Xiao
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  4. Tui Ray
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  7. Fang Chen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fang Chen.

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H. Shen and C. Fu are contributed equally to this work.

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Figure S1

Relationships between lignin content and wall-bound phenolic deposition. Data for field-grown switchgrass materials were used for correlation analysis. a–d Correlation of lignin content and lignin composition. e–h Correlation of lignin content and wall bound phenolics deposition. (PPTX 83.7 kb)

Table S1

Parameters used for collection of the switchgrass internodes. (PPTX 67 kb)

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Shen, H., Fu, C., Xiao, X. et al. Developmental Control of Lignification in Stems of Lowland Switchgrass Variety Alamo and the Effects on Saccharification Efficiency. Bioenerg. Res. 2, 233–245 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-009-9058-6

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