Engineered reduction of S-adenosylmethionine alters lignin in sorghum

Abstract Background Lignin is an aromatic polymer deposited in secondary cell walls of higher plants to provide strength, rigidity, and hydrophobicity to vascular tissues. Due to its interconnections with cell wall polysaccharides, lignin plays important roles during plant growth and defense, but al...

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Main Authors: Yang Tian, Yu Gao, Halbay Turumtay, Emine Akyuz Turumtay, Yen Ning Chai, Hemant Choudhary, Joon-Hyun Park, Chuan-Yin Wu, Christopher M. De Ben, Jutta Dalton, Katherine B. Louie, Thomas Harwood, Dylan Chin, Khanh M. Vuu, Benjamin P. Bowen, Patrick M. Shih, Edward E. K. Baidoo, Trent R. Northen, Blake A. Simmons, Robert Hutmacher, Jackie Atim, Daniel H. Putnam, Corinne D. Scown, Jenny C. Mortimer, Henrik V. Scheller, Aymerick Eudes
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2024-10-01
Series:Biotechnology for Biofuels and Bioproducts
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-024-02572-8
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author Yang Tian
Yu Gao
Halbay Turumtay
Emine Akyuz Turumtay
Yen Ning Chai
Hemant Choudhary
Joon-Hyun Park
Chuan-Yin Wu
Christopher M. De Ben
Jutta Dalton
Katherine B. Louie
Thomas Harwood
Dylan Chin
Khanh M. Vuu
Benjamin P. Bowen
Patrick M. Shih
Edward E. K. Baidoo
Trent R. Northen
Blake A. Simmons
Robert Hutmacher
Jackie Atim
Daniel H. Putnam
Corinne D. Scown
Jenny C. Mortimer
Henrik V. Scheller
Aymerick Eudes
author_facet Yang Tian
Yu Gao
Halbay Turumtay
Emine Akyuz Turumtay
Yen Ning Chai
Hemant Choudhary
Joon-Hyun Park
Chuan-Yin Wu
Christopher M. De Ben
Jutta Dalton
Katherine B. Louie
Thomas Harwood
Dylan Chin
Khanh M. Vuu
Benjamin P. Bowen
Patrick M. Shih
Edward E. K. Baidoo
Trent R. Northen
Blake A. Simmons
Robert Hutmacher
Jackie Atim
Daniel H. Putnam
Corinne D. Scown
Jenny C. Mortimer
Henrik V. Scheller
Aymerick Eudes
author_sort Yang Tian
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Background Lignin is an aromatic polymer deposited in secondary cell walls of higher plants to provide strength, rigidity, and hydrophobicity to vascular tissues. Due to its interconnections with cell wall polysaccharides, lignin plays important roles during plant growth and defense, but also has a negative impact on industrial processes aimed at obtaining monosaccharides from plant biomass. Engineering lignin offers a solution to this issue. For example, previous work showed that heterologous expression of a coliphage S-adenosylmethionine hydrolase (AdoMetase) was an effective approach to reduce lignin in the model plant Arabidopsis. The efficacy of this engineering strategy remains to be evaluated in bioenergy crops. Results We studied the impact of expressing AdoMetase on lignin synthesis in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench). Lignin content, monomer composition, and size, as well as biomass saccharification efficiency were determined in transgenic sorghum lines. The transcriptome and metabolome were analyzed in stems at three developmental stages. Plant growth and biomass composition was further evaluated under field conditions. Results evidenced that lignin was reduced by 18% in the best transgenic line, presumably due to reduced activity of the S-adenosylmethionine-dependent O-methyltransferases involved in lignin synthesis. The modified sorghum features altered lignin monomer composition and increased lignin molecular weights. The degree of methylation of glucuronic acid on xylan was reduced. These changes enabled a ~20% increase in glucose yield after biomass pretreatment and saccharification compared to wild type. RNA-seq and untargeted metabolomic analyses evidenced some pleiotropic effects associated with AdoMetase expression. The transgenic sorghum showed developmental delay and reduced biomass yields at harvest, especially under field growing conditions. Conclusions The expression of AdoMetase represents an effective lignin engineering approach in sorghum. However, considering that this strategy potentially impacts multiple S-adenosylmethionine-dependent methyltransferases, adequate promoters for fine-tuning AdoMetase expression will be needed to mitigate yield penalty.
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spelling doaj-art-0ca54f0577224f1fabb4d3ef015fb5ed2025-08-20T02:17:37ZengBMCBiotechnology for Biofuels and Bioproducts2731-36542024-10-0117111610.1186/s13068-024-02572-8Engineered reduction of S-adenosylmethionine alters lignin in sorghumYang Tian0Yu Gao1Halbay Turumtay2Emine Akyuz Turumtay3Yen Ning Chai4Hemant Choudhary5Joon-Hyun Park6Chuan-Yin Wu7Christopher M. De Ben8Jutta Dalton9Katherine B. Louie10Thomas Harwood11Dylan Chin12Khanh M. Vuu13Benjamin P. Bowen14Patrick M. Shih15Edward E. K. Baidoo16Trent R. Northen17Blake A. Simmons18Robert Hutmacher19Jackie Atim20Daniel H. Putnam21Corinne D. Scown22Jenny C. Mortimer23Henrik V. Scheller24Aymerick Eudes25Joint BioEnergy InstituteJoint BioEnergy InstituteJoint BioEnergy InstituteJoint BioEnergy InstituteJoint BioEnergy InstituteJoint BioEnergy InstituteForage Genetics InternationalForage Genetics InternationalDepartment of Plant Sciences, University of California-DavisJoint BioEnergy InstituteEnvironmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryEnvironmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryJoint BioEnergy InstituteJoint BioEnergy InstituteEnvironmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryJoint BioEnergy InstituteJoint BioEnergy InstituteJoint BioEnergy InstituteJoint BioEnergy InstituteJoint BioEnergy InstituteJoint BioEnergy InstituteJoint BioEnergy InstituteJoint BioEnergy InstituteJoint BioEnergy InstituteJoint BioEnergy InstituteJoint BioEnergy InstituteAbstract Background Lignin is an aromatic polymer deposited in secondary cell walls of higher plants to provide strength, rigidity, and hydrophobicity to vascular tissues. Due to its interconnections with cell wall polysaccharides, lignin plays important roles during plant growth and defense, but also has a negative impact on industrial processes aimed at obtaining monosaccharides from plant biomass. Engineering lignin offers a solution to this issue. For example, previous work showed that heterologous expression of a coliphage S-adenosylmethionine hydrolase (AdoMetase) was an effective approach to reduce lignin in the model plant Arabidopsis. The efficacy of this engineering strategy remains to be evaluated in bioenergy crops. Results We studied the impact of expressing AdoMetase on lignin synthesis in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench). Lignin content, monomer composition, and size, as well as biomass saccharification efficiency were determined in transgenic sorghum lines. The transcriptome and metabolome were analyzed in stems at three developmental stages. Plant growth and biomass composition was further evaluated under field conditions. Results evidenced that lignin was reduced by 18% in the best transgenic line, presumably due to reduced activity of the S-adenosylmethionine-dependent O-methyltransferases involved in lignin synthesis. The modified sorghum features altered lignin monomer composition and increased lignin molecular weights. The degree of methylation of glucuronic acid on xylan was reduced. These changes enabled a ~20% increase in glucose yield after biomass pretreatment and saccharification compared to wild type. RNA-seq and untargeted metabolomic analyses evidenced some pleiotropic effects associated with AdoMetase expression. The transgenic sorghum showed developmental delay and reduced biomass yields at harvest, especially under field growing conditions. Conclusions The expression of AdoMetase represents an effective lignin engineering approach in sorghum. However, considering that this strategy potentially impacts multiple S-adenosylmethionine-dependent methyltransferases, adequate promoters for fine-tuning AdoMetase expression will be needed to mitigate yield penalty.https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-024-02572-8Cell wallMonolignolsSaccharificationO-methyltransferasesBioenergy crop
spellingShingle Yang Tian
Yu Gao
Halbay Turumtay
Emine Akyuz Turumtay
Yen Ning Chai
Hemant Choudhary
Joon-Hyun Park
Chuan-Yin Wu
Christopher M. De Ben
Jutta Dalton
Katherine B. Louie
Thomas Harwood
Dylan Chin
Khanh M. Vuu
Benjamin P. Bowen
Patrick M. Shih
Edward E. K. Baidoo
Trent R. Northen
Blake A. Simmons
Robert Hutmacher
Jackie Atim
Daniel H. Putnam
Corinne D. Scown
Jenny C. Mortimer
Henrik V. Scheller
Aymerick Eudes
Engineered reduction of S-adenosylmethionine alters lignin in sorghum
Biotechnology for Biofuels and Bioproducts
Cell wall
Monolignols
Saccharification
O-methyltransferases
Bioenergy crop
title Engineered reduction of S-adenosylmethionine alters lignin in sorghum
title_full Engineered reduction of S-adenosylmethionine alters lignin in sorghum
title_fullStr Engineered reduction of S-adenosylmethionine alters lignin in sorghum
title_full_unstemmed Engineered reduction of S-adenosylmethionine alters lignin in sorghum
title_short Engineered reduction of S-adenosylmethionine alters lignin in sorghum
title_sort engineered reduction of s adenosylmethionine alters lignin in sorghum
topic Cell wall
Monolignols
Saccharification
O-methyltransferases
Bioenergy crop
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-024-02572-8
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