UK-Brazil partnership.

该提案是一个小型项目，如果成功，将代表我们在理解控制草细胞壁特性的基因方面迈出了重要一步，草不仅包括草地作物，还包括小麦，水稻和甘蔗等主要粮食作物。这些细胞壁代表了草植被中的绝大多数生物质，因此是作物食品生产副产品如谷物秸秆和甘蔗渣的主要成分。如果它们能被制造得更易消化，那么这些大量的生物质将对生物乙醇生产和动物饲料变得更有价值。据信，草细胞壁中的阿魏酰化通过将多糖糖连接到木质素而使它们不易消化，这抑制消化。然而，负责阿魏酰化的基因是未知的。我们已经确定了BAHD基因家族中的候选基因，并设计了一个DNA序列，以特异性地抑制这些基因在模式草种（二穗短柄草）中的活性。拟开展的工作是将该序列导入短柄草属植物，然后将转基因植物与对照植物进行比较。因此，我们将确定是否通过抑制BAHD基因降低了阿魏酸化。如果是这样的话，这些植物将成为研究细胞壁阿魏酰化及其影响细胞壁性质的宝贵工具。特别是，我们将研究对生物质消化率的影响。

The proposal is for a small project which, if successful, would represent a major step forward in our understanding of genes controlling cell wall properties of grasses, which include not only grassland crops but also major food crops such as wheat, rice and sugar cane. These cell walls represent the great majority of biomass in grass vegetation and therefore are the main constituent of by-products of crop food production such as cereal straw and sugar cane residues. If they could be made more digestible, these huge amounts of biomass would become more valuable for bioethanol production and for animal feed. It is believed that feruloylation in grass cell walls makes them less digestible by linking the polysaccharide sugars to lignin, which inhibits digestion. However the genes responsible for feruloylation are unknown. We have identified candidate genes in the BAHD gene family and have designed a DNA sequence to specifically suppress the acitivity of these genes in a model grass species (Brachypodium distachyon). The proposed work is to introduce this sequence into the Brachypodium plants and then compare the GM plants with control plants. We will therefore determine if feruloylation has been decreased by suppressing the BAHD genes. If it has, these plants will become invaluable tools for studying feruloylation of cell walls and the way it affects the properties of the cell walls. In particular, we will study the impact on digestibility of biomass.