Biomass increase in sugarcane plants

• Grant number: 25/11142-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: August 01, 2025
• End date: July 31, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry
• Principal Investigator: Glaucia Mendes Souza
• Grantee: Nicolle Louise Ferreira Barros
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química (IQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 22/11460-1 - Sugarcane and energy-cane genomics and biotechnology for the improvement of yields, future climate resilience and bioproducts, AP.TEM

Abstract

Sugarcane has been cultivated with a focus on sugar production. With the increasing use of industrial waste such as bagasse, straw and vinasse for the production of energy and bioproducts, it has become desirable to increase biomass production in this plant, its wider use and the valorization of its residues. In the previous thematic project, we analyzed the transcriptome and developed datamining tools for RNAseq data comparing gene expression between the variety SP80-3280 and the ancestral species S. officinarum and S. spontaneum in order to select candidates for sugarcane transformation aiming at increasing rusticity and biomass accumulation. Briefly, RNAseq libraries were obtained at 12 months of development for four tissues of the three genotypes evaluated: leaf +1, immature internode, internode 5 (intermediate), internode 9 (mature). From the data, two sets of genes were defined: i) genes whose expression increased according to the rusticity of the genotypes evaluated (CB < SP80 < IN), being candidates for overexpression in SP80; ii) genes with decreasing expression according to rusticity (CB > SP80 > IN) and targets for repression in SP80. As a result, a selection of 56 genes was obtained, 12 candidates for overexpression and 44 for repression in SP80-3280 that will be evaluated by this scholarship plan for the selection of two candidate genes that will be transformed into sugarcane to obtain genotypes with greater biomass production. This plan will be carried out in collaboration with Professor Monalisa Carneiro from the Center of Agricultural Sciences of the Department of Biotechnology and Plant and Animal Production at UFSCar. (AU)