Horticulture Commons^™

Characterization Of Novel Sorghum Brown Midrib Mutants From An Ems-Mutagenized Population, Scott E. Sattler, Ana Saballos, Zhanguo Xin, Deanna L. Funnell-Harris, Wilfred Vermerris, Jeffrey F. Pedersen

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Reducing lignin concentration in lignocellulosic biomass can increase forage digestibility for

ruminant livestock and saccharification yields of biomass for bioenergy. In sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) and several other C4 grasses, brown midrib (bmr) mutants have been shown to reduce lignin concentration. Putative bmr mutants isolated from an EMS-mutagenized population were characterized and classified based on their leaf midrib phenotype and allelism tests with the previously described sorghum bmr mutants bmr2, bmr6, and bmr12. These tests resulted in the identification of additional alleles of bmr2, bmr6, and bmr12, and, in addition, six bmr …

Overexpression Of Sbmyb60 Impacts Phenylpropanoid Biosynthesis And Alters Secondary Cell Wall Composition In Sorghum Bicolor, Erin D. Scully, Tammy Gries, Gautam Sarath, Nathan A. Palmer, Lisa Baird, Michelle J. Serapiglia, Bruce S. Dien, Akwasi A. Boateng, Zhengxiang Ge, Deanna L. Funnell-Harris, Paul Twigg, Thomas E. Clemente, Scott E. Sattler

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The phenylpropanoid biosynthetic pathway that generates lignin subunits represents a significant target for altering the abundance and composition of lignin. The global regulators of phenylpropanoid metabolism may include MYB transcription factors, whose expression levels have been correlated with changes in secondary cell wall composition and the levels of several other aromatic compounds, including anthocyanins and flavonoids. While transcription factors correlated with downregulation of the phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway have been identified in several grass species, few transcription factors linked to activation of this pathway have been identified in C4 grasses, some of which are being developed as dedicated bioenergy feedstocks. In …