Projects
Projects: Projects for Investigator |
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| Reference Number | BB/E023193/1 | |
| Title | Understanding and manipulating lignin biosynthesis in barley | |
| Status | Completed | |
| Energy Categories | Not Energy Related 50%; Renewable Energy Sources(Bio-Energy, Production of other biomass-derived fuels (incl. Production from wastes)) 25%; Renewable Energy Sources(Bio-Energy, Production of transport biofuels (incl. Production from wastes)) 25%; |
|
| Research Types | Basic and strategic applied research 100% | |
| Science and Technology Fields | BIOLOGICAL AND AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES (Biological Sciences) 100% | |
| UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation | Not Cross-cutting 100% | |
| Principal Investigator |
Prof C (Claire ) Halpin No email address given College of Life Sciences University of Dundee |
|
| Award Type | Research Grant | |
| Funding Source | BBSRC | |
| Start Date | 01 December 2007 | |
| End Date | 31 August 2011 | |
| Duration | 45 months | |
| Total Grant Value | £373,944 | |
| Industrial Sectors | Transport Systems and Vehicles | |
| Region | Scotland | |
| Programme | ||
| Investigators | Principal Investigator | Prof C (Claire ) Halpin , College of Life Sciences, University of Dundee (100.000%) |
| Web Site | ||
| Objectives | Objectives not supplied | |
| Abstract | The pathway whereby plants make lignin has been extensively studied in dicots but relatively little work has focussed on the pathway in grasses. Cell walls and lignin in grasses have several unique features - such as the incorporation of H-lignin units and ferulates into the wall - that cannot be understood by studying dicots. We want to study the genes that are involved in making lignin directly in barley, a monocot cereal grass with significant economic importance to the UK. We will use a bioinformatics approach to identify barley sequences in EST databases that have homology to Arabidopsis lignin genes. We will identify and sequence cDNA clones for these genes and perform phylogenetic analysis on each gene family in order to better identify the family members most likely to be involved in developmental lignification and to be able to compare the gene family structure with that of Arabidopsis. In addition, we aim to identify novel genes potentially involved in lignification via their co-expression with known lignin genes in microarray analyis of gene expression profiles from a wide range of barley tissues. For each known or novel gene, we want to determine its function on the lignin pathway and whether mutants in that gene have any advantages for agriculture (primarily in digestibility) or industry (for biomass or bioethanol production). The rational behind the applied aspects of this work are that maize mutants in specific lignin genes (brown midrib mutants) have reduced lignin content and improved digestibility. We will identify barley mutants for lignin genes from within a mutant population available at SCRI by TILLING. We will fully characterise the mutants to determine the nature of the lesion and to analyse lignin and potential digestibility changes. Mutants with good agronomic performance but improved digestibility could be rapidly incorporated into barley improvement programmes. | |
| Publications | (none) |
|
| Final Report | (none) |
|
| Added to Database | 22/11/13 | |
