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Metabolic Engineering of Wood Formation

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Applied Plant Cell Biology

Part of the book series: Plant Cell Monographs ((CELLMONO,volume 22))

Abstract

Wood is one of the most abundant composite materials on earth consisting primarily of cellulose, noncellulosic polysaccharides and lignin. It is a sustainable and quite versatile natural resource that can be processed into many useful products including biofuels, biochemicals, wood pellets, pulp and paper, fibres, biocomposites and timber. Transgenic studies targeting wood formation have in the past largely been of exploratory nature to better understand the molecular basis of wood formation. However, metabolic engineering approaches of woody biomass designed to enhance the quality and quantity of desired end products started to emerge in recent years. A substantial number of studies have recently been published on improving the generation of bioenergy or biofuels from lignocellulosic material, reflecting this new trend in the utilization of woody biomass. A sizable body of literature also exists on metabolic engineering strategies designed to improve the production of pulp and paper, which are important traditional products derived from lignocellulosic material. All these product streams are influenced by the structure and content of cell wall polymers that constitute wood, justifying the current research effort on this topic. Metabolic engineering experiments trying to increase the formation of woody biomass itself have also gained momentum in recent years. Metabolic engineering strategies designed to improve the quality of wood or to enhance the production of nontraditional bioproducts from wood seem also to be feasible but have received little attention to date. This might in part reflect our insufficient knowledge on biochemical and cellular processes that govern wood formation.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and Scion for financial support and Elspeth MacRae for critical reading of this manuscript.

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    Armin Wagner & Lloyd Donaldson

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  1. Armin Wagner
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Correspondence to Armin Wagner .

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  1. Botanical Institute, University of Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Peter Nick

  2. Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

    Zdeněk Opatrny

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Wagner, A., Donaldson, L. (2014). Metabolic Engineering of Wood Formation. In: Nick, P., Opatrny, Z. (eds) Applied Plant Cell Biology. Plant Cell Monographs, vol 22. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-41787-0_12

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