Managing Global Resources for a Secure Future

2017 Annual Meeting | Oct. 22-25 | Tampa, FL

106950 Field Performance of Genome Edited Sugarcane.

Poster Number 814

See more from this Division: C07 Genomics, Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology
See more from this Session: Genomics, Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology General Poster

Monday, October 23, 2017
Tampa Convention Center, East Exhibit Hall

Baskaran Kannan, Je Hyeong Jung and Fredy Altpeter, Agronomy Department, University of Florida - IFAS, Gainesville, FL
Abstract:
Sugarcane is a prime feedstock for commercial production of bioethanol. Utilizing both sucrose and cell wall bound sugars for fermentation will enhance the biofuel yield per unit area. We recently demonstrated that RNAi mediated downregulation of lignin biosynthetic gene Caffeic acid O-methyltransferase (COMT) is a successful strategy to improve bioethanol production from lignocellulosic sugarcane biomass. Targeted mutagenesis with genome editing tools has been successful in a number of crops for creation of loss of function phenotypes but is very challenging in sugarcane due to its highly polyploid genome. In this study, a conserved region of COMT was targeted with a single TALEN pair for multi-allelic mutagenesis to modify lignin biosynthesis in sugarcane. Targeted mutations in regenerated sugarcane lines were identified by capillary electrophoresis of the COMT amplicon. Mutations were confirmed by high-throughput sequencing of the COMT amplicon which revealed the presence of insertions and deletions at the target region. Long COMT amplicons of vegetative progenies, which combined excellent agronomic performance with altered cell wall composition and drastically improved saccharification efficiency, were analyzed with Sanger sequencing. Sanger sequencing revealed the extent of co-editing of the large number of COMT copies/alleles and confirms the success of this strategy in a highly polyploid crop.

See more from this Division: C07 Genomics, Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology
See more from this Session: Genomics, Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology General Poster