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Field Evaluation of Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) Lines that Overexpress Two Monolignol-Related Genes that Alter Cell Wall Composition

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Abstract

Modifying lignin content and composition of cell walls are key targets for bioenergy feedstock improvement for a range of renewable chemical applications. Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is a drought-tolerant C4 grass being developed as a dedicated bioenergy feedstock. The monolignol biosynthetic pathway produces the hydroxycinnamic subunits of lignin, a major target to increase the energy content of sorghum biomass for thermal bioenergy conversion processes. SbMyb60 is a transcription factor linked to the activation of the monolignol biosynthetic pathway and caffeoyl CoA O-methyltransferase (SbCCoAOMT) is a S-adenosyl methionine (SAM)–dependent O-methyltransferase responsible for the methylation of caffeoyl-CoA to generate feruloyl-CoA in this pathway. Overexpression of each gene resulted in increased energy content of biomass and increased levels of several aromatic compounds in previous greenhouse experiments. To assess how SbMyb60 and SbCCoAOMT overexpression lines performed under field conditions, these lines were planted in field trials over two growing seasons, 2017 and 2018, and the effects on lignin composition and content as well as agronomic traits were assessed. Field-grown plants of SbMyb60 and SbCCoAOMT overexpression lines had increased total energy and phenolic compounds. Furthermore, two SbMyb60 transgenic events, SbMyb-10a and SbMyb-15a, with decreased stover yield and seed set were combined with three sorghum lines, N32, N4692, and Tx3118, to investigate whether yield reduction could be rescued. Hybrids improved yield of SbMyb60-15a; however, hybrids were unable to improve performance for SbMyb60-10a. Overall, these results demonstrated that field-grown sorghum overexpressing SbMyb60 or SbCCoAOMT can have biomass with increased phenolic compounds and total energy.

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Data Availability

All the data are available with the corresponding author and may be provided on request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Patrick Tenopir and Derek Rasmussen for planting, managing, and monitoring the regulated sorghum field trials; Nathan Palmer, Zack Duray, Lois Bernhardson, and Maya Khasin for technical assistance with laboratory and field assessments.

Funding

This research was supported by the United States Department of Agriculture–National Institute of Food and Agriculture AFRI grant number 2011-67009-30026 (SES and DLF-H) and additional funding from USDA-ARS, CRIS projects 3042-21220-033-00-D (SES and DLF-H).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wheat, Sorghum and Forage Research Unit, USDA-ARS, Lincoln, NE, 68583, USA

    Hannah M. Tetreault, Pat O’Neill, John Toy, Tammy Gries, Deanna L. Funnell-Harris & Scott E. Sattler

  2. Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, 68583, USA

    Hannah M. Tetreault & Scott E. Sattler

  3. Department of Plant Pathology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, 68583, USA

    Pat O’Neill & Deanna L. Funnell-Harris

Authors
  1. Hannah M. Tetreault
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  2. Pat O’Neill
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  4. Tammy Gries
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  5. Deanna L. Funnell-Harris
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  6. Scott E. Sattler
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Contributions

SES and JT designed the research; HMT, PO, JT, and TG performed the experiments; HMT, JT, PO, TG, DLFH, and SES analyzed and interpreted the data; HMT and SES wrote the first draft of the manuscript, and all authors reviewed and revised the manuscript prior to publication.

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Correspondence to Scott E. Sattler.

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Supplementary Information

Supplemental Table S1

Relative abundance of soluble and wall-bound phenolic acids from SbCCoAOMT and SbMyb60 overexpression line plants. Phenolic acids were analyzed via GC-MS. Values presented are least square means; SE represent standard error. (XLSX 12 kb)

Supplemental Table S2

(XLSX 17.3 kb)

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Tetreault, H.M., O’Neill, P., Toy, J. et al. Field Evaluation of Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) Lines that Overexpress Two Monolignol-Related Genes that Alter Cell Wall Composition. Bioenerg. Res. 14, 1070–1081 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-020-10218-4

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