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Evaluation Of Hall’S Panicgrass (Panicum Hallii Vasey) As A Model System For Genetic Modification Of Recalcitrance In Switchgrass (Panicum Virgatum (L.)), Joshua Nathaniel Grant

Masters Theses

While switchgrass (Panicum virgatum (L.)) has long been recognized as a viable bioenergy feedstock, it and other plants have cell walls with recalcitrance to processing. Recalcitrance is recognized as a major barrier to broad adoption of switchgrass and other feedstocks for cellulosic bioenergy. In an effort to reduce recalcitrance, transgenic plants have been generated with altered cell wall phenotypes such as reduced lignin. Unfortunately, stable transformation of switchgrass and other C4 grasses is time intensive, costly, and genetic analysis is further complicated by polyploid genomic structures. Unlike switchgrass, which can be tetraploid to octoploid, a closely related species, Hall’s …