Research Focus
The primary research goal of the JBEI Feedstocks Division is to generate the scientific understanding and research tools that will enable the development of robust and high-yielding crops for production of biofuels and bioproducts.
Goals
Feedstocks Division
- Develop the fundamental understanding of cell wall biology
- Develop tools to facilitate bioenergy crop improvement
- Engineer bioenergy crops with improved biomass and sustainability traits
- Evaluate crops with improved biomass and sustainability traits
Cell Wall Biology Research Group
- Structure and function of glycosyltransferases, nucleotide sugar transporters and regulatory proteins involved in biosynthesis of hemicellulose, pectin and other glycans.
- Engineering of plants with modified cell wall polysaccharide composition and increased content of easily fermentable sugars.
- The impact of cell wall composition on interactions between plants and microbes and on plant stress tolerance.
Featured Publications
- “Deciphering triterpenoid saponin biosynthesis by leveraging transcriptome response to methyl jasmonate elicitation in Saponaria vaccaria,” Nature Commun, in press
- “Field Performance of Switchgrass Plants Engineered for Reduced Recalcitrance,” Frontiers Plant Sci (2023)
- “Structural and Biochemical Insight into a Modular β-1,4-Galactan Synthase in Plants,” Nature Plants (2022)
- “Engineering sorghum for higher 4-hydroxybenzoic acid content,” Metab Eng Commun (2022)
- “Expression of Dehydroshikimate Dehydratase in Sorghum Improves Biomass Yield, Accumulation of Protocatechuate, and Biorefinery Economics,” ACS Sust Chem Eng (2022)
- “Bioenergy Belowground: challenges and opportunities for phenotyping roots and the microbiome for sustainable bioenergy crop production,” Plant Phemone J (2022)
- “Overexpression of the rice BAHD acyltransferase AT10 increases xylan-bound p-coumarate and reduces lignin in Sorghum bicolor,” Biotechnol Biofuels (2021)
- “Cell Wall Compositions of Sorghum bicolor Leaves and Roots Remain Relatively Constant Under Drought Conditions,” Front Plant Sci (2021)
- “In-planta production of the biodegradable polyester precursor 2-pyrone-4,6-dicarboxylic acid (PDC): Stacking reduced biomass recalcitrance with value-added co-product,” Metab Eng (2021)
- “Reprogramming Sphingolipid Glycosylation is Required for Endosymbiont Persistence in Medicago truncatula,” Curr Biol (2021)
- “Evolutionary Gain of Oligosaccharide Hydrolysis and Sugar Transport Enhanced Carbohydrate Partitioning in Sweet Watermelon Fruits,” Plant Cell (2021)
- “Expression of a bacterial 3-dehydroshikimate dehydratase (QsuB) reduces lignin and improves biomass saccharification efficiency in switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.),” BMC Plant Biol (2021)
- “The TaCslA12 gene expressed in the wheat grain endosperm synthesizes wheat-like mannan when expressed in yeast and Arabidopsis,” Plant Sci (2020)
- “No evidence for transient transformation via pollen magnetofection in several monocot species,” Nature Plants (2020)
- “Microscale thermophoresis as a powerful tool for screening glycosyltransferases involved in cell wall biosynthesis,” Plant Methods (2020)
- “Visualizing Pectin Polymer-Polymer Entanglement Produced by Interfacial Water Movement,” Carbohydr Polym (2020)
- “An iron (II) dependent oxygenase performs the last missing step of plant lysine catabolism,” Nature Communications (2020)
- “Synthesis and function of complex sphingolipid glycosylation,” Trends Plant Sci (2020)
- “Engineering of Bioenergy Crops: Dominant Genetic Approaches to Improve Polysaccharide Properties and Composition in Biomass,” Front Plant Sci (2020)
- “Agrobacterium-mediated transient transformation of sorghum leaves for accelerating functional genomics and genome editing studies,” BMC Res Notes (2020)
- “Molecular characteristics of plant UDP-arabinopyranose mutases.” Glycobiology (2019)
- “Production of clovamide and its analogs in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Lactococcus lactis.” Lett Appl Microbiol (2019)
- “PMR5, an acetylation protein at the intersection of pectin biosynthesis and defense against fungal pathogens.” Plant J (2019)
- “A dominant negative approach to reduce xylan in plants.” Plant Biotechnol J (2019)
- “A screening method to identify efficient sgRNAs in Arabidopsis, used in conjunction with cell-specific lignin reduction.” Biotechnol Biofuels (2019)
- “Methyl ketone production by Pseudomonas putida is enhanced by plant-derived amino acids.” Biotechnol Bioeng (2019)
- “The three members of the Arabidopsis thaliana glycosyltransferase family 92 are functional β-1,4-galactan synthases.” Plant Cell Physiol (2018)
- “Overexpression of a rice BAHD acyltransferase gene in switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) enhances saccharification.” BMC Biotechnol (2018)
- “TBL10 is Required for O-acetylation of Pectic Rhamnogalacturonan-I in Arabidopsis thaliana” Plant J (2018)
- “A Golgi UDP-GlcNAc transporter delivers substrates for N-linked glycans and sphingolipids.” Nature Plants (2018)
- “PECTIN BIOSYNTHESIS. Cell walls have a new family.” Nature Plants (2018)
- “Increased drought tolerance in plants engineered for low lignin and low xylan content.” Biotechnol Biofuels (2018)
- “GINT1 is a GIPC GlcNAc glycosyltransferase.” Plant Physiol (2018)
- “Drought delays development of the sorghum root microbiome and enriches for monoderm bacteria.” Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (2018)
- “A transgene design for enhancing oil content in Arabidopsis and Camelina seeds.” Biotechnol Biofuels (2018)
- “Bi-functional glycosyltransferases catalyze both extension and termination of pectic galactan oligosaccharides.” Plant J (2018)
- “Gene stacking of multiple traits for high yield of fermentable sugars in plant biomass.” Biotechnol Biofuels (2018)
- “A comparative study of sample preparation for staining and immunodetection of plant cell walls by light microscopy.” Frontiers Plant Sci (2017)
- “Plant cell wall glycosyltransferases: high-throughput recombinant expression screening and general requirements for these challenging enzymes.” PLoS One (2017)
- “Preliminary crystallographic analysis and in vitro characterization of the nonmutase UAM2 from Oryza sativa.” Acta Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun (2017)
- “The elaborate route for UDP-arabinose delivery into the Golgi of plants.” Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (2017)
- “Endoribonuclease-based two-component repressor systems for tight expression control in plants.” ACS Synthetic Biol (2017)
- “Glycosylation of inositol phosphorylceramide sphingolipids is required for normal growth and reproduction in Arabidopsis.” Plant J (2017)
- “UUAT1 is a Golgi-localized UDP-glucuronic acid transporter that modulates the polysaccharide composition of arabidopsis seed mucilage.” Plant Cell (2017)
- “Loss of Inositol Phosphorylceramide Sphingolipid Mannosylation Induces Plant Immune Responses and Reduces Cellulose Content in Arabidopsis.” Plant Cell (2016)
- “Cell Wall Composition and Candidate Biosynthesis Gene Expression Across Rice Development.” Plant Cell Physiol (2016)
- “The Arabidopsis Golgi-localized GDP-fucose transporter is required for plant development.” Nat Commun (2016)
- “Tissue-specific distribution of hemicelluloses in six different sugarcane hybrids as related to cell wall recalcitrance.” Biotechnol Biofuels (2016)
- “A DUF-246 family glycosyltransferase-like protein affects male fertility and the biosynthesis of rhamnogalacturonan-I arabinogalactans.” BMC Plant Biol (2016)
- “Structural characterization of a mixed-linkage glucan deficient mutant reveals alteration in cellulose microfibril orientation in rice coleoptile mesophyll cell walls.” Frontiers Plant Sci (2015)
- “Acetylation of cell wall is required for structural integrity of the leaf surface and exerts a global impact on plant stress responses.” Frontiers Plant Sci (2015)
- “Engineering of plant cell walls for enhanced biofuel production.” Curr Opinion Plant Biol (2015)
- “Identification and characterization of the Golgi localized UDP-xylose transporter family from Arabidopsis.” Plant Cell (2015)
- “Engineering temporal accumulation of a low recalcitrance polysaccharide leads to increased C6 sugar content in plant cell walls.” Plant Biotechnol J (2015)
- “A reversible Renilla luciferase protein complementation assay for rapid identification of protein-protein interactions in the Golgi apparatus in plants.” J Exp Bot (2015)
- “A gene stacking approach leads to engineered plants with highly increased galactan levels in Arabidopsis.” BMC Plant Biol (2014)
- Site-Directed Mutagenesis of IRX9, IRX9L and IRX14 Proteins Involved in Xylan Biosynthesis: Glycosyltransferase Activity is not Required for IRX9 Function in Arabidopsis.”Plos One (2014)
- “Identification of a Sphingolipid ?-Glucuronosyltransferase that is Essential for Pollen Function in Arabidopsis.” Plant Cell (2014)
- “The Golgi UDP-Rhamnose / UDP-Galactose transporter family in Arabidopsis.” Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (2014)
- “Xylan biosynthesis.” Current Opinion in Biotechnology (2014)
- “RWA proteins play vital and distinct roles in cell wall O-acetylation in Arabidopsis thaliana.” Plant Physiol (2013)
- “Golgi-localized enzyme complexes for plant cell wall biosynthesis.” Trends Plant Sci (2013)
- “Three members of the Arabidopsis glycosyltransferase family 8 are xylan glucuronosyltransferases.” Plant Physiol (2012)
- “Pectin Biosynthesis: GALS1 in Arabidopsis thaliana is a ?-1,4-galactan ?-1,4-galactosyltransferase.” Plant Cell (2012)
- “Engineering of plants with improved properties as biofuels feedstocks by vessel-specific complementation of xylan biosynthesis mutants.” Biotechnol Biofuels (2012)