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Plant Physiol, August 2000, Vol. 123, pp. 1363-1374

Lignification in Transgenic Poplars with Extremely Reduced Caffeic Acid O-Methyltransferase Activity1

Lise Jouanin,* Thomas Goujon, Véronique de Nadaï, Marie-Thérèse Martin,2 Isabelle Mila, Christelle Vallet, Brigitte Pollet, Arata Yoshinaga,3 Brigitte Chabbert, Michel Petit-Conil, and Catherine Lapierre

Biologie Cellulaire, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, 78026 Versailles cedex, France (L.J., T.G., V.d.N., M.-T.M.); Chimie Biologique, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique-Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon, 78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France (I.M., C.V., B.P., C.L.); Biochimie des Macromolécules Végétales, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, BP 224, 51686 Reims, France (A.Y., B.C.); and Centre Technique du Papier, BP 251, 38044 Grenoble, France (M.P.-C.)

Transgenic poplars (Populus tremula × Populus alba) were obtained by introduction of a sense homologous transgene encoding caffeic acid O-methyltransferase (COMT) under the control either of the cauliflower mosaic virus double 35S promoter or of the eucalyptus cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase promoter. Although these constructs conferred a moderate overexpression of COMT in some lines, a transgenic line with the double 35S promoter was found where COMT activity in woody tissues was close to zero due to a gene-silencing phenomenon. For the first time in COMT down-regulated trees, this alteration substantially reduced lignin level in 6-month-old trees (17% decrease). Lignin structure was found to be strongly altered, with a two times higher content in condensed bonds, an almost complete lack of syringyl units, and the incorporation of 5-hydroxyguaiacyl units to the most remarkable extent reported so far. Consistent with the higher cellulose content and with the higher condensation degree of the lignin, the impact of the transformation on the kraft-pulping performances of the poplar trees positively affected the pulp yield (10% relative increase), but made lignins less amenable to industrial degradations.

1 This work was financially supported by the European Commission DGXII, Fishery and Agro-Industrial Research Program (TIMBER program, contract no. FAIR-CT95-0424).

2 Present address: Universidad de Valladolid, Escuela Tecnica Superior de Ingenierias Agrarias, Departmento de Produccion Vegetal y Silvopascicultura, Avenida de Madrid 57, 34071 Palencia, Spain.

3 Present address: Laboratory of Plant Cell Structure, Division of Forest and Biomaterials Science, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8502 Japan.

* Corresponding author; e-mail jouanin{at}versailles.inra.fr; fax 33-1-30-83-30-99.

© 2000 American Society of Plant Physiologists


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