ARS | Publication request: DOWN-REGULATION OF CINNAMOYL-COA REDUCTASE (CCR) IN POPLAR INVESTIGATED WITH CHEMOMETRICS AND 2D-NMR

Submitted to: Symposium Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: November 11, 2007
Publication Date: March 11, 2008
Citation: Oman, T., Ralph, J., Boerjan, W., Hedenstrom, M. 2008. Down-regulation of cinnamoyl-coa reductase (CCR) in poplar investigated with chemometrics and 2D-NMR. In: Proceedings of the Funcfiber 2008 International Symposium on the Biology and Biotechnology of Wood, March 10-12, 2008, Umea, Sweden. p. 65.

Technical Abstract: An understanding of the lignification process is of vital importance, especially for the pulp and paper industry. Cinnamoyl-coa reductase (CCR) is an enzyme that plays a central role in the lignification process. Previous results have shown that down-regulation of CCR decreases the lignin content. Boerjan et al. have studied poplar with down-regulated CCR to examine the lignification pathway. The purpose of this study is to further investigate the importance of CCR for wood formation. The method for dissolving the entire cell wall has enabled the study of wood with high-resolution solution-state NMR. In this study, we used 2D-NMR to investigate four down-regulated lines, two antisense and two sense transformed lines. Multivariate analysis of the detailed information regarding the chemical composition of wood that is obtained from the 2D-NMR spectra is used to get an overview of the chemical composition differences between the transgenic lines and wild type poplar. The results statistically confirm that lowered CCR levels are correlated to decreased lignin content and differences between syringyl and guaiacyl levels in the lignin. This can be visualized in loading plots that can be interpreted in the same way as the original spectra.