Heterologous expression of expansion genes from sugarcane in Arabidopsis thaliana

• Grant number: 19/05887-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2019
• End date: January 31, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Crop Science
• Principal Investigator: Tatiane da Franca Silva
• Grantee: Carolyne Chaves Fontes
• Host Institution: Escola de Engenharia de Lorena (EEL). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Lorena , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Lignocellulosic biomass is the subject of several studies in the field of biotechnology, with a view to the implementation of biorefineries of sugar cane, for the production of biofuels and biomaterials. However, certain characteristics of the cell wall impede the access of the enzymes during the hydrolysis in the saccharification of the glucose chains. Studies show that plant proteins Expansins interfere with the arrangement of cellulose microfibrils, facilitating of enzymes during pretreatment. In this context, this project proposes to transformation of model Arabidopsis thaliana plants with overexpression of sugarcane Expansins genes, as well as characterization phenotype of transgenic lines. The implementation of this proposal will the functional characterization of the heterologous protein, aiming at the studies of genetic modification of sugarcane, in order to leverage the production of fuels and materials generated from their bagasse.