Genetic markers and tree properties predicting wood biorefining potential in aspen (Populus tremula) bioenergy feedstockShow others and affiliations
2023 (English)In: Biotechnology for Biofuels and Bioproducts, E-ISSN 2731-3654, Vol. 16, no 1, article id 65Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Background: Wood represents the majority of the biomass on land and constitutes a renewable source of biofuels and other bioproducts. However, wood is recalcitrant to bioconversion, raising a need for feedstock improvement in production of, for instance, biofuels. We investigated the properties of wood that affect bioconversion, as well as the underlying genetics, to help identify superior tree feedstocks for biorefining.
Results: We recorded 65 wood-related and growth traits in a population of 113 natural aspen genotypes from Sweden (https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.gtht76hrd). These traits included three growth and field performance traits, 20 traits for wood chemical composition, 17 traits for wood anatomy and structure, and 25 wood saccharification traits as indicators of bioconversion potential. Glucose release after saccharification with acidic pretreatment correlated positively with tree stem height and diameter and the carbohydrate content of the wood, and negatively with the content of lignin and the hemicellulose sugar units. Most of these traits displayed extensive natural variation within the aspen population and high broad-sense heritability, supporting their potential in genetic improvement of feedstocks towards improved bioconversion. Finally, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) revealed 13 genetic loci for saccharification yield (on a whole-tree-biomass basis), with six of them intersecting with associations for either height or stem diameter of the trees.
Conclusions: The simple growth traits of stem height and diameter were identified as good predictors of wood saccharification yield in aspen trees. GWAS elucidated the underlying genetics, revealing putative genetic markers for bioconversion of bioenergy tree feedstocks.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
BioMed Central (BMC), 2023. Vol. 16, no 1, article id 65
Keywords [en]
Bioenergy, Biomass, Biorefining, Feedstock recalcitrance, Forest feedstocks, Saccharification
National Category
Forest Science
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-206938DOI: 10.1186/s13068-023-02315-1ISI: 000967835900001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85152632077OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-206938DiVA, id: diva2:1753559
Funder
Swedish Research Council Formas, 942-2015-84Swedish Research Council Formas, 2018-01381Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, 2016.0341Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, 2016.0352Vinnova, 2016-00504Bio4Energy2023-04-272023-04-272024-07-02Bibliographically approved