Multicellular living organisms and unmodified parts thereof and – Plant – seedling – plant seed – or plant part – per se – Higher plant – seedling – plant seed – or plant part
Patent
1994-10-27
1999-09-28
McElwain, Elizabeth F.
Multicellular living organisms and unmodified parts thereof and
Plant, seedling, plant seed, or plant part, per se
Higher plant, seedling, plant seed, or plant part
435419, 4353201, 536 236, A01H 500, C12N 1582
Patent
active
059591781
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the improvement of plants by the modification of lignin biosynthesis, particularly, but not exclusively, the improvement of digestibility of fodder crops.
2. Background Information
Grassland farmers, and farmers of other fodder crops, face a difficult decision each year about when to cut their crops for conservation. All grass varieties of agricultural importance suffer from the disadvantage that during the normal increase in dry matter yield with growth, the digestibility decreases. The farmer, therefore, has, to compromise between a lower yield of highly digestible material and a higher yield of less digestible material. Another limitation is that harvesting at optimum maturity may be prevented by unfavourable weather. If the decline in digestibility could be controlled or delayed, higher yields of highly digestible material could be obtained and the prevailing weather conditions would not play such a major role in determining the quality of the harvested crop.
Digestibility of fodder crops is determined, among other factors, by the amount and quality of lignin deposition which has taken place during growth of the plants and the degree of secondary modification of lignin deposited. Beside cellulose and other poly-saccharides, lignins are an essential component of cell wall in tissues like the sclerenchyma and the xylem of vascular plants. They play an important role in the conducting function of the xylem by reducing the permeability of the cell wall to water. They are also responsible for the rigidity of the cell wall, and, in woody tissues, they act as a bonding agent between cells, imparting to the plant a resistance towards impact, compression and bending. Finally, they are involved in mechanisms of resistance to pathogens by impeding the penetration or the propagation of the pathogenic agent.
Lignins are not only important in the productivity and performance of field crops but are also of great importance in trees for paper making. Considerable energy and chemical input is required to loosen, dissolve and remove lignin from the cellulose fibre which is required for paper making. In addition to these instances in which lignins present a constraint on the use of crop plants, lignins are also used as feedstocks for the preparation of speciality chemicals such as phenolics which can be used as precursors in chemical synthesis. Thus lignins and their biological and chemical modification are important.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a biotechnological procedure for the modification both lignin content and lignin composition in plants.
Lignins are the product of a dehydrogenative polymerisation of three primary precursors: the trans-coniferyl, trans-sinapyl and trans-p-coumaryl alcohols. The monomers can occur in lignins in different proportions and with different types of links both with each other and with the surrounding cell wall polysaccharides, thus producing a wide variety of polymers. These polymers, or "lignin cores" are always associated covalently with hemicelluloses. Most lignins also contain varying amounts of aromatic carboxylic acids in ester-like combinations. Such differences in the structure of lignins are usually found in plant species. However, differences in the composition of lignins, and even in the binding to the primary and secondary cell walls, can also occur in the same plant, between different tissues of different ages. The biosynthesis of lignin monomers (monolignols) is a part of the phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway, which is also responsible for the production of a wide range of compounds including flavonoid pigments, isoflavonoids, coumarin phytoalexins and cell division promoting dehydrodiconiferyl glucosides.
Phenylalanine is deaminated to produce cinnamic acid. This acid is then transformed by hydroxylation and methylation reactions, thus producing different acids substituted on the aromatic ring. The enzyme catalysing the methylat
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Fritig Bernard Jean Meinrad
Inze Dirk Gustaaf
Jouanin Lise
Knight Mary Elizabeth
Legrand Michel
Imperial Chemical Industries plc
McElwain Elizabeth F.
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