| Grant number: | 14/17486-6 |
| Support Opportunities: | Program for Research on Bioenergy (BIOEN) - Regular Program Grants |
| Start date: | March 01, 2015 |
| End date: | February 28, 2017 |
| Field of knowledge: | Biological Sciences - Genetics - Plant Genetics |
| Principal Investigator: | Elisson Antonio da Costa Romanel |
| Grantee: | Elisson Antonio da Costa Romanel |
| Host Institution: | Escola de Engenharia de Lorena (EEL). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Lorena , SP, Brazil |
| City of the host institution: | Lorena |
| Associated researchers: | Marcos Silveira Buckeridge ; Renato Vicentini dos Santos |
Abstract
The sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) is among the species that produces more ethanol from accumulated sucrose (40%) in mature plant. However, from a bioenergy point of view, two third of the carbons of sugarcane are not used for the production of bioethanol. One of the greatest challenges in the field of bioenergy is to obtain second-generation biofuel from biomass recalcitrance of the plant cell wall present in the bagasse, leaves and straw. To overcome this issue, it is necessary to know the cell wall components, genes and their molecular mechanisms responsible for cell wall biosynthesis. Recent research data produced by Dr. André Ferraz group from EEL/USP show that the total amount of hemicellulose and lignin found in the bagasse of sugarcane correlates with the high recalcitrance of the cell wall. Increasing amount of data has reported that removal of hemicellulose in pretreatment and/or its chemical modification throught genetic engineering in the hemicellulose biosynthesis genes results in a reduction of cell wall recalcitrance. Despite of advances in the functional characterization of the plants hemicellulose biosynthesis genes have begun in 2004 using model plant, a few genes of this pathway have been identified in sugarcane. Based on that, this project proposes the identification and annotation of hemicellulose biosynthesis genes in sugarcane through the use of computational and phylogenetic analysis using ESTs and RNA-Seq database; and correlate the expression profile of these genes in sugarcane hybrids with contrasting hemicellulose contents. The achievement of this project will allow the implemention of a Molecular Genetics laboratory in the "Departamento de Biotecnologia" from EEL/USP. This project will be conducted with the participation of Dr. André Ferraz, Dr. Marcos Buckeridge from USP/Capital and Dr. Renato Vicentini from UNICAMP, two master students from "Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biotecnologia Industrial" and four undergrade students. The implementation of such strategies will contribute to the annotation and a list of sugarcane genes involved in the hemicellulose polisaccharides biosynthesis, which may be used to manipulate the plant to expand production of ethanol without the need to increase the area planted. (AU)
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