Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 109, Issue 3, Pages 989-993Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1115858109
Keywords
type II cell walls; second-generation biofuels; dietary fiber
Categories
Funding
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council of the United Kingdom (BBSRC) [BB/F014295/1]
- BBSRC Sustainable Bioenergy Centre [BB/G016240/1]
- BBSRC
- European Community [211982 (RENEWALL)]
- BBSRC [BB/F014295/1, BB/G016240/1, BB/F013434/1, BBS/E/C/00005206] Funding Source: UKRI
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [BB/C507561/1, BBS/E/C/00005206, BB/F013434/1, BB/G016240/1, BB/F014295/1] Funding Source: researchfish
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Xylan, a hemicellulosic component of the plant cell wall, is one of the most abundant polysaccharides in nature. In contrast to dicots, xylan in grasses is extensively modified by alpha-(1,2)- and alpha-(1,3)-linked arabinofuranose. Despite the importance of grass arabinoxylan in human and animal nutrition and for bioenergy, the enzymes adding the arabinosyl substitutions are unknown. Here we demonstrate that knocking-down glycosyltransferase (GT) 61 expression in wheat endosperm strongly decreases alpha-(1,3)-linked arabinosyl substitution of xylan. Moreover, heterologous expression of wheat and rice GT61s in Arabidopsis leads to arabinosylation of the xylan, and therefore provides gain-of-function evidence for alpha-(1,3)-arabinosyltransferase activity. Thus, GT61 proteins play a key role in arabinoxylan biosynthesis and therefore in the evolutionary divergence of grass cell walls.
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