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REVIEW article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Metabolism and Chemodiversity
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1419796
This article is part of the Research Topic Biosynthesis and Metabolic Engineering of Living Stocks (Lignin) for Biofuels View all 3 articles

Breeding for improved digestibility and processing of lignocellulosic biomass in Zea mays

Provisionally accepted
Yasmine Vanhevel Yasmine Vanhevel 1Astrid De Moor Astrid De Moor 1Hilde Muylle Hilde Muylle 2Ruben Vanholme Ruben Vanholme 1Wout Boerjan Wout Boerjan 1*
  • 1 Plant Systems Biology, VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology, Flanders Institute for Biotechnology, Gent, Belgium
  • 2 Institute for Agricultural, Fisheries and Food Research (ILVO), Merelbeke, Belgium

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Forage maize is a versatile crop extensively utilized for animal nutrition in agriculture and holds promise as a valuable resource for the production of fermentable sugars in the biorefinery sector. Within this context, the carbohydrate fraction of the lignocellulosic biomass undergoes deconstruction during ruminal digestion and the saccharification process. However, the cell wall's natural resistance towards enzymatic degradation poses a significant challenge during both processes. This so-called biomass recalcitrance is primarily attributed to the presence of lignin and ferulates in the cell walls. Consequently, maize varieties with a reduced lignin or ferulate content or an altered lignin composition can have important beneficial effects on cell wall digestibility. Considerable efforts in genetic improvement have been dedicated towards enhancing cell wall digestibility, benefiting agriculture, the biorefinery sector and the environment. In part I of this paper, we review conventional and advanced breeding methods used in the genetic improvement of maize germplasm. In part II, we zoom in on maize mutants with altered lignin for improved digestibility and biomass processing.

    Keywords: Maize, Lignin, Breeding, lignin engineering, Digestibility, saccharification

    Received: 18 Apr 2024; Accepted: 10 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Vanhevel, De Moor, Muylle, Vanholme and Boerjan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Wout Boerjan, Plant Systems Biology, VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology, Flanders Institute for Biotechnology, Gent, 9052, Belgium

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.