Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Loosening lignin's grip on biofuel production

Nature Biotechnology volume 25, pages 746–748 (2007)Cite this article

Reducing lignin content in alfalfa can increase ethanol yields and decrease processing inputs.

Concerns about global warming, the soaring cost of gasoline and national security issues have rekindled interest in producing liquid transportation fuels from renewable resources, particularly those derived from cellulose1,2. But in addition to cellulose, plant cell walls contain lignin, a phenolic polymer that hinders the degradation of cell wall polysaccharides to simple sugars destined for fermentation to ethanol. In this issue, Chen and Dixon3 use antisense-mediated downregulation of lignin biosynthesis in alfalfa to demonstrate the potential of transgenic approaches to reduce or eliminate the need for pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Reduced lignin content can increase yields of fermentable sugars after pretreatment of plant biomass with hot acid and can also reduce or eliminate the need for this step.

Kim Caesar

References

  1. US Department of Agriculture and US Department of Energy (DOE). Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply (US DOE, Oak Ridge, TN and US Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA, 2005). <http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/pdfs/final_billionton_vision_report2.pdf>

  2. US Department of Energy. Breaking the Biological Barriers to Cellulosic Ethanol: A Joint Research Agenda. A Research Roadmap Resulting from the Biomass to Biofuels Workshop, Rockville, MD, December 7–9, 2005 <http://genomicsgtl.energy.gov/biofuels/b2bworkshop.shtml>

  3. Chen, F. & Dixon, R.A. Nat.Biotechnol. 25, 759–761 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Mosier, N. et al. Bioresour. Technol. 96, 673–686 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Keating, J.D., Panganiban, C. & Mansfield, S.D. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 93, 1196–1206 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Chen, F. et al. Plant J. 48, 113–124 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Ladisch, M.R. et al. Proceedings of the Ninth International Biotechnology Symposium, Washington, DC (August 20, 1992) (American Chemical Society, Washington, 1992).

  8. Boerjan, W., Ralph, J. & Baucher, M. Annu. Rev. Plant Biol. 54, 519–546 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Somerville, C. et al. Science 306, 2206–2211 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Jeffries, T.W. & Jin, Y.S. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 63, 495–509 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clint Chapple is in the Department of Biochemistry, 175 S. University Street, West Lafayette, IN 47902-2063, USA. chapple@purdue.edu,

    Clint Chapple

  2. Michael Ladisch is in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering and the Laboratory of Renewable Resources Engineering, 500 Central Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1295, USA. ladisch@purdue.edu,

    Michael Ladisch

  3. Rick Meilan is in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, 715 W. State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2061, USA. rmeilan@purdue.edu,

    Rick Meilan

Authors
  1. Clint Chapple
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michael Ladisch
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Rick Meilan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Chapple, C., Ladisch, M. & Meilan, R. Loosening lignin's grip on biofuel production. Nat Biotechnol 25, 746–748 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0707-746

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0707-746

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing