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David Pearson
Jack Later
Biology Lab 1615: Wed-4:00pm
3 November 2014
Summary of Engineering of Plants with Improved Properties as Biofuels Feedstocks by
Vessel-specific Complementation of Xlan Biosynthesis Mutants by Pia Damm Petersen,
Jane Lau, Berit Ebert, Fan Yang, Yves Verhertbruggen, Jin Sun Kim, Patanjali Varanasi,
Anongpat Suttangkakul, Manfred Auer, Dominique Loqu, and Henrik Vibe Scheller

Introduction: To produce cost effective biofuels from plant stock, it is necessary to have
plant biomass that is easily degradable into sugars that can then be fermented into alcohol for
fuel. The normal proses of degradation is greatly hindered because the cell walls in plants are
composed mainly of complex sugars called hemicelluloses. One of the main hemicelluloses in
plant walls Xylan -makes up 35% of the secondary cell wall. The reduction or elimination of
this complex sugar would greatly decrease the amount of energy needed to degrade these plants
into fuels, therefore increasing the productivity of the biofuel. The main problems encountered
with the reduction of xylan are growth and strength. The plants that have decreased levels of
xylan exhibit severe dwarf growth phenotypes and weaker breaking points. The dwarf growth
phenotype and lesser strength are caused by the collapse of cells walls and the resulting impaired
transport of nutrients and water. The reduction of xylan, without the collapse of cell walls, is the
main focus of this article.
Methods and materials: Arabidopsis plants were used as the feed stock in this study.
The wild Arabidopsis plants used in this study were grown over a four week period with 16

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hours of sunlight every day and specific growing and watering conditions. The plants were then
analyzed for monosaccharide composition using high-performance anion exchange
chromatography (HPAEC). New genes to improve nutrient transport in the plants (irx7, irx8, and
irx9) were cloned into other Arabidopsis plants using the heat shock method before the plants
had fully developed. The Arabidopsis plants with the new genes were grown under the same
conditions and then also analyzed using HPAEC.
Results: A new pathway to reduce xylan in cell walls but maintain the nutrient transport
was developed. The dwarf phenotype and breaking strength of the plants was recovered to
varying degrees. Some plants even showed increased strength compared to the wild plants.
Arabidopsis plants were engineered with 23% reduction of xylans, but with the same growth and
strength as the wild types. These plants were further treated with hot water, and after this
treatment, they showed a 42% decrease in energy consumed when converting them into biofuels.
Discussion: The results presented in this study show that while xylans are essential to
plant growth, they are not needed in all cell types. The new genes used in this study provided
xylan where it was essential to plant growth but removed it where it was not. This greatly
decreased the total amount of xylan in the plants, increasing the usefulness of Arabidopsis as a
biofuel feedstock.
Conclusion: Xylan presence in the secondary cell walls of Arabidopsis can be
manipulated by the carful maintenance of nutrition pathways in the cells. This is possible using
the irs7-9 genes. This proses shows great potential for the production of biofuels on a larger and
more efficient scale.

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Limitations of this study: The research in this article is only starting to be developed,
and is in need of fine tuning to better specify what can be done to use this technology on a larger
scale. To have an actual impact on the efficiency of biofuels in general, more studies are needed
on other plants. These studies will need to see if these same methods could be used to improve
the quality of other biofuel feed stocks, not only Arabidopsis. If this happens, and the results are
successful, this experiment will be proven much more effective.
Bibliography: http://www.biotechnologyforbiofuels.com/content/5/1/84