Modulation of Expression of Acyltransferases to Modify Hydroxycinnamic Acid Content

• US 20170349909A1
• Filed: 07/17/2017
• Published: 12/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Regents of the University of California (University of California)
• Original Assignee: Regents of the University of California (University of California)
• Inventors: Bartley, Laura E., Ronald, Pamela, Scheller, Henrik Vibe
• Granted Patent: US 10,450,578 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: C12N 15/8246 Non-starch polysaccharides, e.g. cellulose, fructans, levans
• CPC Class Codes: C12N 9/1025 Acyltransferases (2.3)

Abstract

The invention provides methods of engineering plants to modulate hydroxycinnamic acid content. The invention additionally provides compositions and methods comprising such plants.

Claims

1. A method of engineering a plant to decrease the ferulic acid content in the plant, the method comprising:

introducing an expression cassette into the plant, wherein the expression cassette comprises a polynucleotide encoding an AT15 acyltransferase, and wherein the acyltransferase has at least 70% identity to a sequence selected from SEQ ID NO;

4, and

culturing the plant under conditions in which the acyltransferase is expressed.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the polynucleotide is operably linked to a promoter endogenous to the plant.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the expression cassette comprises a promoter to which the polynucleotide is operably linked.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the promoter is a tissue-specific promoter.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the promoter drives expression in cell wall.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the polynucleotide has at least 70% identity to SEQ ID NO:

3.

7. A plant engineered by the method of claim 1, or a progeny of the plant.

9. Biomass comprising the plant or a part of the plant of claim 7.

10. A method of obtaining an increased amount of soluble sugars from a plant in a saccharification reaction, the method comprising:

subjecting the plant of claim 7 to a saccharification reaction, thereby increasing the amount of soluble sugars that can be obtained from the plant as compared to a wild-type plant.

8. A plant cell comprising a polynucleotide encoding an AT15 operably linked to a heterologous promoter;

or a plant comprising a heterologous polynucleotide encoding an AT15 protein.