| Grant number: | 22/05524-7 |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor |
| Start date: | October 01, 2022 |
| End date: | May 31, 2023 |
| Field of knowledge: | Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Chemistry of Macromolecules |
| Principal Investigator: | Marcos Silveira Buckeridge |
| Grantee: | Adriana Grandis |
| Supervisor: | Nicholas C. Carpita |
| Host Institution: | Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil |
| Institution abroad: | National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), United States |
| Associated to the scholarship: | 19/13936-0 - The role of xyloglucan in the cell wall architecture determination in sugarcane, BP.PD |
Abstract A significant knowledge gap in bioenergy science is how products of polysaccharide biosynthesis are integrated into composites and how their structural complexities contribute to macro and micro-scale architectures. Solving such problems can be helpful to a) improve hydrolysis procedures that could be more precise and effective in producing free sugars and b) design polymers tailored for use as biocomposites for several applications in industry. For sugarcane, one of the most important bioenergy feedstocks globally, cell wall composition and architecture are starting to be understood. One of the findings is that microfibrils are organized into macrofibrils. To date, what is unknown is whether the microfibrils freely bind to each other or hemicelluloses participate in the structure. Candidates are xyloglucan, arabinoxylans, and (gluco)mannans, displaying cellulose-binding properties. Here, we intend to produce further evidence that could help test the hypothesis that hemicelluloses play a role in holding cellulose microfibrils together in the cell walls. We also aim to explore the natural genetic diversity of sugarcane and energy cane to identify the cell wall traits that can help develop new ways to use biomass for bioenergy and biorefinery purposes. We will apply methylation analyses to deepen the knowledge about the structure of sugarcane cell wall polysaccharides. We will use TEMPO-Catalysis techniques to determine sugarcane cellulose microfibril structure. With the knowledge obtained in this project, we expect to understand better how sugarcane and energy cane cellulose are arranged in their cell wall architecture. An emergent factor in this architecture is the cell-cell adhesion in what is termed a compound middle lamella. We will determine the contribution of cellulose macrofibrils, hemicellulose, and pectin interactions with the phenylpropanoid matrix unique to the grasses. (AU) | |
| News published in Agência FAPESP Newsletter about the scholarship: | |
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