Pauly Markus, Keegstra Kenneth
Department of Energy Plant Research Laboratory and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.
Plant J. 2008 May;54(4):559-68. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-313X.2008.03463.x.
Plant cell walls represent the most abundant renewable resource on this planet. Despite their great abundance, only 2% of this resource is currently used by humans. Hence, research into the feasibility of using plant cell walls in the production of cost-effective biofuels is desirable. The main bottleneck for using wall materials is the recalcitrance of walls to efficient degradation into fermentable sugars. Manipulation of the wall polysaccharide biosynthetic machinery or addition of wall structure-altering agents should make it possible to tailor wall composition and architecture to enhance sugar yields upon wall digestion for biofuel fermentation. Study of the biosynthetic machinery and its regulation is still in its infancy and represents a major scientific and technical research challenge. Of course, any change in wall structure to accommodate cost-efficient biofuel production may have detrimental effects on plant growth and development due to the diverse roles of walls in the life of a plant. However, the diversity and abundance of wall structures present in the plant kingdom gives hope that this challenge can be met.
植物细胞壁是地球上最丰富的可再生资源。尽管其储量巨大，但目前人类仅利用了其中的2%。因此，研究利用植物细胞壁生产具有成本效益的生物燃料的可行性是很有必要的。使用细胞壁材料的主要瓶颈在于细胞壁难以有效降解为可发酵糖。操纵细胞壁多糖生物合成机制或添加改变细胞壁结构的试剂，应能够调整细胞壁的组成和结构，以提高细胞壁消化后用于生物燃料发酵的糖产量。对生物合成机制及其调控的研究仍处于起步阶段，是一项重大的科学和技术研究挑战。当然，为适应具有成本效益的生物燃料生产而对细胞壁结构进行的任何改变，可能会因细胞壁在植物生命中的多种作用而对植物生长和发育产生不利影响。然而，植物界中细胞壁结构的多样性和丰富性让人有希望应对这一挑战。
