Sugarcane as green biofactories: metabolic engineering of high-value aromatic compounds

• Grant number: 24/08175-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: July 01, 2024
• End date: June 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Chemistry of Macromolecules
• Principal Investigator: Igor Cesarino
• Grantee: Alison Andrei Schmatz
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 21/06142-8 - Steering the shikimate/phenylpropanoid pathway: from gene function discovery to green factories, AP.BIOEN.JP2
• Associated scholarship(s): 25/11107-8 - Sugarcane as green biofactories: metabolic engineering of high-value aromatic compounds, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

Most (bio)chemical compounds used for industrial applications are chemically synthesized from fossil resources upon petroleum refining, given that methods using biological production platforms are mostly inefficient. However, metabolic engineering holds promise to overcome this problem and may be used to increase the value of plant biomass. This project aims to perform the metabolic engineering of two aromatic compounds in sugarcane to boost the status of this species as a "multipurpose" crop. The target compounds were chosen because they represent high-value compounds and because their metabolic engineering will potentially affect lignin deposition (and consequently facilitate biomass processing). Sugarcane genetic transformation with the appropriate constructions has already been performed and this postdoctoral project aims to characterize/phenotype the transgenic lines using a comprehensive approach, which includes anatomical/structural analyzes, secondary cell wall characterization, phenolic profiling and saccharification assays. This is a "proof-of-concept" project to demonstrate the potential of sugarcane metabolic engineering to generate "green biofactories" for the production of key products for the bioeconomy.