QTL Mapping of Enzymatic Saccharification in Short Rotation Coppice Willow and Its Independence from Biomass Yield
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QTL Mapping of Enzymatic Saccharification in Short Rotation Coppice Willow and Its Independence from Biomass Yield Nicholas J. B. Brereton & Frederic E. Pitre & Steven J. Hanley & Michael J. Ray & Angela Karp & Richard J. Murphy
Published online: 27 January 2010 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. 2010
Abstract Short rotation coppice (SRC) willows (Salix spp.) are fast-growing woody plants which can achieve high biomass yields over short growth cycles with low agrochemical inputs. Biomass from SRC willow is already used for heat and power, but its potential as a source of lignocellulose for liquid transport biofuels has still to be assessed. In bioethanol production from lignocellulose, enzymatic saccharification is used as an approach to release glucose from cellulose in the plant cell walls. In this study, 138 genotypes of a willow mapping population were used to examine variation in enzymatic glucose release from stem biomass to study relationships between this trait and biomass yield traits and to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with enzymatic saccharification yield. Significant natural variation was found in glucose yields from willow stem biomass. This trait was independent of biomass yield traits. Four enzyme-derived glucose QTL were mapped onto chromosomes V, X, XI, and XVI, indicating that enzymatic saccharification yields are under significant genetic influence. Our results show that SRC willow has strong potential as a source of bioethanol and
Imperial College London and Rothamsted Research are members of the Porter Alliance (http://www.porteralliance.org.uk/). N. J. B. Brereton : M. J. Ray : R. J. Murphy Division of Biology, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK N. J. B. Brereton : F. E. Pitre : S. J. Hanley : A. Karp (*) Centre for Bioenergy and Climate Change, Plant & Invertebrate Ecology Department, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Herts AL5 2JQ, UK e-mail: [email protected] URL: http://www.rothamsted.bbsrc.ac.uk
that there may be opportunities to improve the breeding programs for willows for increasing enzymatic saccharification yields and biofuel production. Keywords Biofuel . Biomass . QTL . Enzymatic saccharification . Willow (Salix)
Introduction The potential of crop biofuels to help mitigate global climate change by providing renewable, low-carbon, energy substitutes for fossil-based transport fuels has been recognized by governments worldwide, and renewable energy strategies have been published which pose challenging targets for biofuel production. For example, the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) aims at production of 11.1 billion gallons of renewable fuels in the USA in 2009 [1]. The EU Renewable Energy Directive establishes a binding target of 20% of total energy consumption and 10% of transport fuel to be from renewable sources by 2020 [2]. Similarly, the recently published UK Renewable Energy Strategy [3] has the aspiration of 10% of transport fuels from renewables by 2020. The feasibility of developing biofuels from crops has bee
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