PatIntNews

ARS scientists Wis. There (research agronomist) John Grabber (working with ARS plant physiologist Ronald Hatfield), Fachuang Lu (at University of Wisconsin) and John Ralph(at the University of Wisconsin) at the U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center in Madison have designed lignin that breaks down more easily.

Plant cell walls comprises of cellulose, the main component of paper and sugars, the source for ethanol production. Cellulose could be described as the "brick" of the cell wall, while pectin, hemicellulose and lignin function like mortar, cementing everything together. Cellulose, key component of plant, can be converted into ethanol and other products. Lignin though critical for plant survival but its structure imposes a great difficulty in efficient conversion of cellulose which is a major raw material for the production of paper, ethanol and other industrial products. These new findings from the Agricultural Research Service could help make the conversion process easier.

The effects of changing cell walls were tested by Grabber and his colleagues in a laboratory through incorporation of a chemical compound called coniferyl ferulate into lignin formed within cell walls, before actually applying those changes to live plants. In order to do so, they firstly synthesized the compound in the lab and added it to cell walls isolated from corn and then subjected the cell walls to alkaline treatments, which are commonly used to degrade lignin

The results showed that altered lignin broke down more readily than conventional lignin under mild alkaline conditions which demonstrated the potential of this modification to facilitate cellulose use.

Further research showed that incorporating other molecules such as feruloyl and caffeoylquinic acid into lignin could also enhance cellulose utilization. Scientists, Hatfield, Ralph and ARS geneticist Jane Marita at Madison are now leading efforts to engineer plants to make lignin with coniferyl ferulate.

Potential benefits of this research are not just limited to paper and ethanol production, but also for livestock production. Modified lignin could make fibrous crops more digestible, allowing producers to feed more forage crops and less grain to their livestock.