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Suppression of a single BAHD gene in Setaria viridis causes large, stable decreases in cell wall feruloylation and increases biomass digestibility
Author(s) -
Souza Wagner R.,
Martins Polyana K.,
Freeman Jackie,
Pellny Till K.,
Michaelson Louise V.,
Sampaio Bruno L.,
Vinecky Felipe,
Ribeiro Ana P.,
Cunha Barbara A. D. B.,
Kobayashi Adilson K.,
Oliveira Patricia A.,
Campanha Raquel B.,
Pacheco Thályta F.,
Martarello Danielly C. I.,
Marchiosi Rogério,
FerrareseFilho Osvaldo,
Santos Wanderley D.,
Tramontina Robson,
Squina Fabio M.,
Centeno Danilo C.,
Gaspar Marília,
Braga Marcia R.,
Tiné Marco A. S.,
Ralph John,
Mitchell Rowan A. C.,
Molinari Hugo B. C.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
new phytologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.742
H-Index - 244
eISSN - 1469-8137
pISSN - 0028-646X
DOI - 10.1111/nph.14970
Subject(s) - setaria viridis , biomass (ecology) , biology , gene , cell wall , microbiology and biotechnology , setaria , food science , chemistry , botany , biochemistry , agronomy , weed
Summary Feruloylation of arabinoxylan ( AX ) in grass cell walls is a key determinant of recalcitrance to enzyme attack, making it a target for improvement of grass crops, and of interest in grass evolution. Definitive evidence on the genes responsible is lacking so we studied a candidate gene that we identified within the BAHD acyl‐CoA transferase family. We used RNA interference (RNAi) silencing of orthologs in the model grasses Setaria viridis ( Sv BAHD 01 ) and Brachypodium distachyon ( Bd BAHD 01 ) and determined effects on AX feruloylation. Silencing of Sv BAHD 01 in Setaria resulted in a c . 60% decrease in AX feruloylation in stems consistently across four generations. Silencing of Bd BAHD 01 in Brachypodium stems decreased feruloylation much less, possibly due to higher expression of functionally redundant genes. Setaria Sv BAHD 01 RNA i plants showed: no decrease in total lignin, approximately doubled arabinose acylated by p ‐coumarate, changes in two‐dimensional NMR spectra of unfractionated cell walls consistent with biochemical estimates, no effect on total biomass production and an increase in biomass saccharification efficiency of 40–60%. We provide the first strong evidence for a key role of the BAHD 01 gene in AX feruloylation and demonstrate that it is a promising target for improvement of grass crops for biofuel, biorefining and animal nutrition applications.