Researchers at North Carolina State University used a CRISPR gene-editing system to breed poplar trees with reduced levels of lignin, the major barrier to sustainable production of wood fibers, while improving their wood properties.
Researchers at North Carolina State University used a CRISPR gene-editing system to breed poplar trees with reduced levels of lignin, the major barrier to sustainable production of wood fibers, while improving their wood properties. The findings – published in the journal Science – hold promise to make fiber production for everything from paper to diapers greener, cheaper and more efficient.
Led by NC State CRISPR pioneer Rodolphe Barrangou and tree geneticist Jack Wang, a team of researchers used predictive modeling to set goals of lowering lignin levels, increasing the carbohydrate to lignin (C/L) ratio, and increasing the ratio of two important lignin building blocks – syringyl to guaiacyl (S/G) – in poplar trees. These combined chemical characteristics represent a fiber production sweet spot, Barrangou and Wang say.
“We’re using CRISPR to build a more sustainable forest,” said Barrangou, the Todd R. Klaenhammer Distinguished Professor of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences at NC State and co-corresponding author of the paper. “CRISPR systems provide the flexibility to edit more than just single genes or gene families, allowing for greater improvement to wood properties.”
The machine-learning model predicted and then sorted through almost 70,000 different gene-editing strategies targeting 21 important genes associated with lignin production – some changing multiple genes at a time – to arrive at 347 strategies; more than 99% of those strategies targeted at least three genes.
Read more at North Carolina State University
Photo: CRISPR-modified poplar trees (l) and wild poplar trees grow in an NC State greenhouse. Photo courtesy of Chenmin Yang, NC State University.
