David Macaya-Sanz, Jin-Gui Chen, Udaya C Kalluri, Wellington Muchero, Timothy J Tschaplinski, Lee E Gunter, Sandra J Simon, Ajaya K Biswal, Anthony C Bryan, Raja Payyavula, Meng Xie, Yongil Yang, Jin Zhang, Debra Mohnen, Gerald A Tuskan, Stephen P DiFazio
Background: One of the major barriers to the development of lignocellulosic feedstocks is the recalcitrance of plant cell walls to deconstruction and saccharification. Recalcitrance can be reduced by targeting genes involved in cell wall biosynthesis, but this can have unintended consequences that compromise the agronomic performance of the trees under field conditions. Here we report the results of a field trial of fourteen distinct transgenic Populus deltoides lines that had previously demonstrated reduced recalcitrance without yield penalties under greenhouse conditions...
2017: Biotechnology for Biofuels