Feruloyl-CoA:monolignol transferase
AssigneesBoard of Trustees of Michigan State University, The University of British Columbia, Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
InventorsCurtis Wilkerson, John Ralph, Saunia Withers, Shawn D. Mansfield
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Abstract
The invention relates to nucleic acids encoding a feruloyl-CoA:monolignol transferase and the feruloyl-CoA:monolignol transferase enzyme that enables incorporation of monolignol ferulates, for example, including p-coumaryl ferulate, coniferyl ferulate, and sinapyl ferulate, into the lignin of plants.
Claims32
An expression cassette comprising a promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding a feruloyl-CoA:monolignol transferase polypeptide with at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:2.
A plant cell comprising an expression cassette comprising a promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding a feruloyl-CoA:monolignol transferase polypeptide with at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:2.
A plant or plant seed comprising an expression cassette comprising a heterologous promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding a feruloyl-CoA:monolignol transferase polypeptide with at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:2.
A method for incorporating monolignol ferulates into lignin of a plant, comprising:
- a) stably transforming plant cells with an expression cassette comprising a promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding a feruloyl-CoA:monolignol transferase polypeptide with at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:2 to generate transformed plant cells;
- b) regenerating the transformed plant cells into at least one transgenic plant, wherein the feruloyl-CoA:monolignol transferase is expressed in at least one transgenic plant, to thereby incorporate monolignol ferulates into the lignin of the transgenic plant.
A method of making a product from a transgenic plant comprising:
- (a) providing a transgenic plant that includes an expression cassette comprising a promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding a feruloyl-CoA:monolignol transferase polypeptide with at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:2;
- and
- (b) processing the transgenic plant's tissues under conditions sufficient to digest the lignin;
- and
- thereby generating the product from the transgenic plant, wherein the transgenic plant's tissues comprise lignin having an increased percent of monolignol ferulates relative to a corresponding untransformed plant.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.