Article
Plant Sciences
Ana Lopez-Malvar, Rosa Ana Malvar, Xose Carlos Souto, Leonardo Dario Gomez, Rachael Simister, Antonio Encina, Jaime Barros-Rios, Sonia Pereira-Crespo, Rogelio Santiago
Summary: The study found that materials resistant to pests may have cell walls with low levels of p-coumaric acid and hemicellulose; inbred lines with high cellulose content and diferulate cross-linking may be better suited for ethanol production; inbreds with enhanced digestibility may have cell walls with lower neutral detergent fiber and diferulates, along with a lignin polymer composition richer in G subunits.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
F. A. Ferrari, G. P. Nogueira, T. T. Franco, M. O. S. Dias, C. K. N. Cavaliero, G. J. Witkamp, L. A. M. van der Wielen, M. B. S. Forte
Summary: This study evaluates the impact of pretreatment variables and ionic liquid recycling in an IL-based biorefinery, emphasizing the importance of solid loading and IL dilution in the production process. It shows that improving IL recycling can minimize environmental impact and operational costs, with product diversification enhancing economic feasibility. These results challenge traditional criteria for assessing pretreatment design and solvent recycling, highlighting the need for an integrated approach.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Izhar Ali, Muhammad Adnan, Anas Iqbal, Saif Ullah, Muhammad Rafiullah Khan, Pengli Yuan, Hua Zhang, Jamal Nasar, Minghua Gu, Ligeng Jiang
Summary: The study demonstrates that the combined application of biochar and nitrogen can effectively enhance rice biomass and yield, leading to increased bioethanol production.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Amanda Fanelli, David M. Rancour, Michael Sullivan, Steven D. Karlen, John Ralph, Diego Mauricio Riano-Pachon, Renato Vicentini, Tatiane da Franca Silva, Andre Ferraz, Ronald D. Hatfield, Elisson Romanel
Summary: The study identified a sugarcane gene (ScAT10) that increases pCA content and reduces FA content in maize, leading to a significant increase in the pCA/FA ratio.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Xinru Li, Fumin Ma, Chengping Liang, Maoyao Wang, Yan Zhang, Yufei Shen, Muhammad Adnan, Pan Lu, Muhammad Tahir Khan, Jiangfeng Huang, Muqing Zhang
Summary: This study explored the use of online NIRS analysis for the high-throughput assessment of key cell wall features in sugarcane, including CrI, lignin content, and their proportion. The consistent and precise calibration results obtained with NIRS modeling suggest this strategy as a reliable approach for large-scale screening of promising sugarcane germplasm for cell wall structure improvement.
BIOTECHNOLOGY FOR BIOFUELS
(2021)
Article
Agricultural Engineering
Denghao Ouyang, Yazhu Han, Fangqiang Wang, Xuebing Zhao
Summary: A coupled process of biomass pretreatment using iron ions as electron carriers has been developed to increase cellulose digestibility and convert biomass to electricity. By utilizing different pretreatment methods, a significant amount of fermentable sugars was obtained from sugarcane bagasse while generating electricity.
BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Wenting Ren, Jiawei Zhu, Fei Guo, Juan Guo, Xuexia Zhang, Hankun Wang, Yan Yu
Summary: This study investigates the cellulose crystalline structure differences between bamboo fibers and parenchyma cells and their effects on ionic liquid pretreatment and sugar conversion yield. The results show that cellulose from bamboo fibers exhibits higher resistance to pretreatment, with minimal changes in crystallinity, crystallite sizes, and easier transformation to cellulose II. In contrast, cellulose from parenchyma cells behaves differently. Furthermore, the (110) and (11??0) lattice planes exhibit more changes in crystalline parameters compared to the (200) direction.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Jian Zhang, Wei Shen, Cynthia Collings, Kirk A. Vander Meulen, Brian G. Fox, Leida M. Vazquez Ramos, James A. Dumesic, Shi-You Ding
Summary: Thermochemical pretreatment is crucial for processing lignocellulosic biomass to produce biofuels and biomaterials. γ-Valerolactone (GVL) has been used as a green solvent to dissolve lignin effectively. This study compared the performance of HCl and H2SO4 as catalysts in GVL pretreatment, finding that GVL-HCl at 100°C showed similar effectiveness to GVL-H2SO4 at 120°C in terms of xylan and lignin removal. Real-time imaging revealed that GVL-HCl pretreatment at lower temperature could rapidly remove lignin from cell walls and optimize the efficiency of GVL-based pretreatment.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
(2021)
Article
Agronomy
Bing Liang, Yanwei Ma, Kai Shi, Guopeng Chen, Hong Chen, Yun Hu, Ping Chen, Tian Pu, Yushan Wu, Xin Sun, Taiwen Yong, Weiguo Liu, Jiang Liu, Junbo Du, Feng Yang, Xiaochun Wang, Wenyu Yang
Summary: Maize-soybean strip intercropping can alleviate arable land competition, improve land output, and stabilize maize yield. Suitable narrow row spacing and increasing bandwidth are beneficial for the planting and production of maize-soybean strip intercropping.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF AGRONOMY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Wangdan Xiong, Yujian Wang, Yongzhen Guo, Wei Tang, Yiran Zhao, Guofeng Yang, Yuhe Pei, Jingtang Chen, Xiyun Song, Juan Sun
Summary: This study explored the growth, transcriptional, and metabolic responses of maize shoots to long-term potassium deficiency. The results showed that potassium insufficiency reduced the biomass yield of silage maize and regulated many stress-induced genes involved in plant growth and potassium homeostasis. Metabolic analysis revealed the accumulation of amino acids, phenolic acids, organic acids, and alkaloids in shoots under potassium deficiency conditions. These findings provide deeper insights into the responses of maize shoots to potassium deficiency and the importance of potassium in silage maize production.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
A. Lopez-Malvar, R. A. Malvar, A. Butron, P. Revilla, J. C. Jimenez-Galindo, X. C. Souto, R. Santiago
Summary: Higher hydroxycinnamate content in maize tissues makes them more resistant to insect damage, less digestible by ruminants, and unsuitable for biofuel production. A Genome Wide Association Analysis identified new genomic regions associated with cell wall-bound hydroxycinnamates, potentially impacting their content across different genetic backgrounds. However, genetic correlation coefficients between hydroxycinnamate content and important traits such as saccharification efficiency, animal digestibility, and pest resistance were low to moderate, making modifying specific hydroxycinnamates to indirectly improve cultivar performance impractical.
Article
Chemistry, Applied
Hailong Lu, Lili Zhang, Ming Yan, Kui Wang, Jianchun Jiang
Summary: This research develops a facile and low-cost process to produce high-yield lignocellulose nanofibrils (LCNF) directly from wood and non-wood biomass. The LCNFs obtained from different raw materials exhibit excellent morphological, thermochemical, and mechanical properties. The LCNFs show high thermal stability and tensile strength, making them suitable for industrial production of bio-based nanofilms.
CARBOHYDRATE POLYMERS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Reza Ramdan Rivai, Takuji Miyamoto, Tatsuya Awano, Rie Takada, Yuki Tobimatsu, Toshiaki Umezawa, Masaru Kobayashi
Summary: Nitrogen supply significantly affects the cell wall structure and composition of sorghum seedlings, leading to a decrease in the syringyl/guaiacyl lignin unit ratio, an increase in hemicellulose content, and alterations in tissue distribution. These cell wall changes may be associated with changes in gene expression.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Agricultural Engineering
Meysam Madadi, Mahdy Elsayed, Fubao Sun, Jing Wang, Keikhosro Karimi, Guojie Song, Meisam Tabatabaei, Mortaza Aghbashlo
Summary: A new cutting-edge lignocellulose fractionation technology was introduced using mannitol-assisted p-toluenesulfonic acid/pentanol pretreatment, resulting in the co-production of glucose, native-like lignin, and furfural. The addition of 5% mannitol increased delignification rate, surface area, biomass porosity, and glucose yield. The extracted lignin exhibited properties of native cellulosic enzyme lignin and the solubilized hemicellulose was converted into furfural. This waste-free biorefinery pathway contributes to a circular bioeconomy.
BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Agricultural Engineering
S. Meenakshisundaram, A. Fayeulle, E. Leonard, C. Ceballos, A. Pauss
Summary: Sustainable biorefinery concepts based on lignocellulosic biomass have attracted global attention, requiring combined biological and chemical/physicochemical pretreatment for substrate preparation. Different combinations of pretreatment methods can effectively mitigate the drawbacks of a single pretreatment step, enhancing fiber degradation and sugar yields.
BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Supratim Ghosh, Semion Greiserman, Alexander Chemodanov, Petronella Margaretha Slegers, Bogdan Belgorodsky, Michael Epstein, Abraham Kribus, Michael Gozin, Guo-Qiang Chen, Alexander Golberg
Summary: The study optimized the process parameters for hydrolysis and fermentation of seaweed, and investigated the effects of different initial culture densities on biomass and PHA productivity. Results showed that producing PHA from seaweed hydrolysate using extreme halophiles coupled to biochar production could be a promising step in marine biorefinery.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Review
Plant Sciences
Eleni Koseoglou, Jan M. van der Wolf, Richard G. F. Visser, Yuling Bai
Summary: Plants have developed complex defense mechanisms to resist pathogens, but pathogens can use effector proteins to manipulate plant susceptibility genes, rendering defenses ineffective. Identification and mutation of plant susceptibility genes utilized by bacterial pathogens are crucial for breeding durable and broad-spectrum resistant crops. New genome editing technologies offer new possibilities for modifying susceptibility genes.
TRENDS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Biology
Pieter J. Wolters, Doret Wouters, Emil J. Kromhout, Dirk Jan Huigen, Richard G. F. Visser, Vivianne G. A. A. Vleeshouwers
Summary: The research identified several wild potato species from Central and South America with high natural resistance against early blight disease. By crossing these plants with cultivated potato, the resistance can be inherited by offspring plants. This finding paves the way for developing new potato varieties with natural resistance to early blight, as current fungicides are losing their effectiveness against the disease.
Article
Agronomy
Aina E. Prinzenberg, Hanneke van der Schoot, Richard G. F. Visser, Leo F. M. Marcelis, Ep Heuvelink, Henk J. Schouten
Summary: LED lighting is being used as an alternative to HPS lighting in greenhouse production, with different impacts on fruit quality observed between the two light spectra. Genetic influences on traits such as Brix value and blossom-end rot (BER) were studied, with specific QTLs identified on chromosome 6 for Brix and chromosome 11 for BER incidence.
Article
Agronomy
Aina E. Prinzenberg, Hanneke van der Schoot, Olivier van Deth, Theoharis Ouzounis, Suzan Gabriels, Fien Meijer-Dekens, Leo F. M. Marcelis, Richard G. F. Visser, Ep Heuvelink, Henk J. Schouten
Summary: There are differences in growth between tomato plants grown under LED and HPS light. However, it is unclear if breeding specifically for LED supplemental light is worthwhile. In this study, tomato populations were grown under HPS or 95% red and 5% blue LED light. The results showed that LED supplemental lighting led to reduced plant height and side shoot size in all populations. Adult plants under LED had shorter internode lengths, fewer trusses, fruits, and lower yield of ripe fruits per plant compared to HPS. However, including unripe fruits in the yield calculation eliminated the difference between HPS and LED, indicating that plants under LED were compact and slower in development but still produced similar yield.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
J. G. A. M. L. Uitdewilligen, A. M. A. Wolters, H. J. van Eck, R. G. F. Visser
Summary: Association analysis identified specific StGWD alleles that cause an increase or decrease in starch phosphate content in potatoes, and this was confirmed in diploid and tetraploid mapping populations. The study also revealed the genetic diversity in phosphate content among different potato varieties and provided insights into the breeding history of elite potato germplasm.
PLANT MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Agronomy
Aina E. Prinzenberg, Hanneke Schoot, Richard G. F. Visser, Leo F. M. Marcelis, Ep Heuvelink, Henk J. Schouten
Summary: This study found that the severity of intumescence in tomato plants is highly dependent on genotype, with a high heritability. QTLs for intumescence were identified at chromosomal positions, and these QTLs are consistent among different populations. Environmental factors such as light spectrum have no significant influence on intumescence score, but there is a low negative correlation with multiple aspects of plant performance.
Article
Agronomy
Efstathios Roumeliotis, Bjorn Kloosterman, Marian Oortwijn, Wouter Kohlen, Harro J. Bouwmeester, Christian W. B. Bachem, Richard G. F. Visser
Summary: This study investigates the effects of altered auxin content on potato development by cloning and overexpressing the StYUCCA8 gene. The transgenic plants exhibited increased shoot and stolon branching, reduced leaf size, lower average tuber fresh weight, and enhanced adventitious and lateral root formation. Despite the high expression of the StYUCCA8 gene, the concentration of auxin was not altered in the shoot apex but significantly lower in the basal part of the stem.
Review
Genetics & Heredity
Faisal Saeed, Usman Khalid Chaudhry, Ali Raza, Sidra Charagh, Allah Bakhsh, Abhishek Bohra, Sumbul Ali, Annapurna Chitikineni, Yasir Saeed, Richard G. F. Visser, Kadambot H. M. Siddique, Rajeev K. Varshney
Summary: Climate change directly impacts the yield of vegetables through rising temperatures. Breeding for climate-resilient crops requires significant time and effort, but advancements in omics technologies have improved the efficiency of identifying pathways for high-temperature stress resilience in vegetable crops. Genomics-assisted breeding, gene editing, and speed breeding offer new approaches to develop temperature-resilient vegetables more efficiently. This review discusses the effects of heat stress on vegetables and highlights the use of omics and genome editing in producing temperature-resilient vegetables.
FUNCTIONAL & INTEGRATIVE GENOMICS
(2023)
Article
Agronomy
Peter G. Vos, M. Joao Paulo, Peter M. Bourke, Chris A. Maliepaard, Fred A. van Eeuwijk, Richard G. F. Visser, Herman J. van Eck
Summary: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are a valuable tool for understanding the genetic architecture of complex traits, but careful interpretation is required. This study identified multiple quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with steroidal glycoalkaloid (SGA) accumulation in potato tubers, but also highlighted challenges and pitfalls in GWAS analyses, with population structure being the most important factor. The study also revealed that introgression breeding has introduced new haplotypes associated with higher SGA levels in certain pedigrees.
MOLECULAR BREEDING
(2022)
Article
Agronomy
Corentin R. Clot, Xulan Wang, Joey Koopman, Alejandro Therese Navarro, Johan Bucher, Richard G. F. Visser, Richard Finkers, Herman J. van Eck
Summary: The reinvention of potato as a diploid hybrid crop requires understanding of mutational load, recombination landscape, and genetic basis of fertility. In this study, the OutcrossSeq pipeline was implemented in R for analyzing a large diploid potato population. This pipeline allowed for marker inference, linkage map construction, and QTL mapping, leading to new insights for diploid potato breeding.
Article
Agronomy
Eleni Koseoglou, Matthijs Brouwer, Derek Mudadirwa, Jan M. van der Wolf, Richard G. F. Visser, Yuling Bai
Summary: Research indicates that tolerance to Clavibacter michiganensis (Cm) in tomatoes is controlled by multiple loci, with a major locus located on chromosome 7. However, further investigation reveals that in addition to chromosome 7, there are also other loci on chromosomes 2 and 4 associated with tolerance to Cm.
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Corentin R. Clot, Dennis Klein, Joey Koopman, Cees Schuit, Christel J. M. Engelen, Ronald C. B. Hutten, Matthijs Brouwer, Richard G. F. Visser, Martina Juranic, Herman J. van Eck
Summary: The balanced segregation of homologous chromosomes is crucial for fertility during meiosis. A reduction in crossover (CO) number can lead to unpaired chromosomes and the production of unbalanced, sterile gametes. However, if combined with another meiotic alteration, it can result in uniform, non-recombinant gametes. In potato, a recessive trait known as CO shortage has been mapped to chromosome 8. This study has identified StMSH4 as a candidate gene for CO shortage and discovered nonfunctional alleles in potato cultivars, providing breeders with options for improving fertility or producing uniform gametes.
Article
Plant Sciences
Emily M. S. Ter Steeg, Paul C. Struik, Richard G. F. Visser, Pim Lindhout
Summary: This article analyzes how biological and economic factors determine whether a commercial plant breeder will choose a hybrid breeding system, highlighting the cost of seed production as a key factor. It emphasizes the effectiveness of hybrid breeding in crop genetic improvement, but also points out that high seed production costs are the main hindrance to its commercial application.
Article
Horticulture
Naser Askari, Sasan Aliniaeifard, Richard G. F. Visser
Summary: CO2 starvation in tissue culture has a negative impact on the growth of regenerated plantlets, with or without sucrose in the medium, indicating that reduced CO2 concentrations in vitro result in disrupted photosynthesis functionality and the generation of reactive oxygen species.