Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
recalcitrance.” Without cell wall recalcitrance, a sustainable and reliable biofuel industry could have
been realized by now. Hence, the major goal of current biofuel research is to develop cell walls with
reduced recalcitrance. To achieve rapid progress toward reduced recalcitrance, it is important that
we know the key steps and identify all of the contributors involved in cell wall biosynthesis. In other
words, knowledge of how plant cell walls are constructed would facilitate the means for deconstruct-
ing them.
Arabidopsis
research has been contributing heavily toward increasing our understanding
of cell wall synthesis. As described in this review, studies on genes and other key contributors
to the biosynthesis of most major cell wall polysaccharides and other components like lignin are
rapidly progressing. It is obvious that
A.
thaliana
cell wall research and its subsequent application
to bioenergy crops of interest will contribute to improving biofuel production and thereby render a
sustainable, timely, and cost-effective solution to the global energy crisis.
acknoWledGments
Supported by grants from U.S. Department of Energy (BioEnergy Science Center and grant #DE
PS02-06ER64304) and the National Science Foundation Plant Genome Program (DBI-0421683).
The authors thank Michael Hahn for his comments and discussion and Karen Howard, Virginia
Brown, and Ashley Grove for formatting the manuscript.
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