Evolutionary and genomics functional analysis of sugarcane genes involved in the recalcitrance cell wall

• Grant number: 16/24391-7
• Support Opportunities: Program for Research on Bioenergy (BIOEN) - Regular Program Grants
• Start date: July 01, 2017
• End date: June 30, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Crop Science
• 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
• Associated researchers: Andre Luis Ferraz ; Renato Vicentini dos Santos

Abstract

Grasses cell wall consist of cellulose surrounded by glucuronoarabinoxylan (GAX), high levels of ferulic acid (FA) and p-coumaric acid (pCA), and lignin. The FA and pCA content is one of the factors which contribute to the recalcitrance of the cell wall hindering the process for obtaining the polysaccharides used in the bioenergy industry. Since 2007, functional characterization of BAHD superfamily genes (clade Va), containing OsAt10 (rice) and pCAT (maize), indicate that adequate change in the content of hydroxycinnamic acids increase saccharification. Despite that, no homologous gene member of the clade Va has been identified and studied in sugarcane. For that reasons, this project proposes the identification and annotation of genes with biotechnology potential, Va clade member in sugarcane through phylogenetic and computational analysis using ESTs and RNA-Seq data; correlating the expression profile of these genes in sugarcane hybrids with contrasting content of hydroxycinnamic acids; clone and transform maize lines with constitutive and silencing (RNAi) vectors containing ScAT10 and ScPMT sugarcane genes. Corn is an easy transformation plant, rapid growth in relation to sugarcane and with previous studies in the proposed subject, acting as the best model for functional characterization. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

FANELLI, AMANDA; REINHARDT, LAURIE; MATSUOKA, SIZUO; FERRAZ, ANDRE; SILVA, TATIANE DA FRANCA; HATFIELD, RONALD D.; ROMANEL, ELISSON. Biomass composition of two new energy cane cultivars compared with their ancestral Saccharum spontaneum during internode development. BIOMASS & BIOENERGY, v. 141, OCT 2020. (14/06923-6, 14/17486-6, 16/24391-7, 16/25785-9)

FANELLI, AMANDA; RANCOUR, DAVID M.; SULLIVAN, MICHAEL; KARLEN, STEVEN D.; RALPH, JOHN; RIANO-PACHON, DIEGO MAURICIO; VICENTINI, RENATO; SILVA, TATIANE DA FRANCA; FERRAZ, ANDRE; HATFIELD, RONALD D.; et al. Overexpression of a Sugarcane BAHD Acyltransferase Alters Hydroxycinnamate Content in Maize Cell Wall. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE, v. 12, APR 21 2021. (14/17486-6, 16/24391-7, 16/25785-9)

MAMEDES-RODRIGUES, T. C.; BATISTA, D. S.; NAPOLEAO, T. A.; CRUZ, A. C. F.; FORTINI, E. A.; NOGUEIRA, F. T. S.; ROMANEL, E.; OTONI, W. C.. Lignin and cellulose synthesis and antioxidative defense mechanisms are affected by light quality in Brachypodium distachyon. PLANT CELL TISSUE AND ORGAN CULTURE, v. 133, n. 1, p. 1-14, APR 2018. (14/06923-6, 14/17486-6, 16/24391-7)