Forward Genetic Screening for the Improved Production of Fermentable Sugars from Plant Biomass

With their unique metabolism and the potential to produce large amounts of biomass, plants are an excellent bio-energy feedstock for a variety of industrial purposes. Here we developed a high-throughput strategy, using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, to identify mutants with improved sugar release from plant biomass. Molecular analysis indicates a variety of processes including starch degradation, cell wall composition and polar transport of the plant hormone auxin can contribute to this improved saccharification. To demonstrate translatability, polar auxin transport in maize was either genetically or chemical inhibited and this also resulted in increased sugar release from plant tissues. Our forward genetic approach using Arabidopsis not only uncovers new functions that contribute to cell wall integrity but also demonstrates that information gleaned from this genetic model can be directly translated to monocotyledonous crops such as maize to improve sugar extractability from biomass.

植物凭借其独特的代谢特性与大规模生物质合成潜力，是适配多种工业应用场景的优质生物能源原料。本研究以模式植物拟南芥（Arabidopsis thaliana）为实验材料，开发了一套高通量筛选策略，用于鉴定可提升植物生物质糖释放效率的突变体。分子生物学分析表明，淀粉降解、细胞壁组成调控以及植物激素生长素（auxin）的极性运输等多种生物学过程，均可助力提升生物质糖化效率。为验证研究结果的可迁移性，本研究通过遗传干预或化学抑制剂处理，抑制玉米中的生长素极性运输，同样实现了植物组织糖释放量的显著提升。本研究采用的拟南芥正向遗传学筛选策略，不仅揭示了多种参与维持细胞壁完整性的新功能机制，同时证实了从该遗传模式植物中获取的研究数据，可直接迁移至玉米等单子叶作物中，以优化生物质的糖提取效率。