The objective of this proposal is to identify the proteins, phosphopeptides, transcripts, and metabolic signatures that mediate secondary cell wall (SCW) development in grasses. Grass cell walls are one of the most abundant potential sources of biomass for biofuel production. However, the biological conversion of grass biomass to fuel is limited by deconstruction of cell walls into component sugars. Grass cell walls have divergent content and tissue patterning and their cell wall synthesis and control is likely different from those of dicots. Therefore, understanding grass cell wall synthesis and control can be used to improve the quality of grasses as a biofuel feedstock.
Proposer: Laura Bartley, University of Oklahoma