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Elucidation of metabolic mechanism of biocomponents and development of various functional molecules

【FOOD】 Kajita Team

  • Overview

    Lignin is an aromatic polymer deposited in plant cell walls. It is biosynthesized from phenylalanine and/or tyrosine via multiple reactions catalyzed by different enzymes. Unlike other cell wall polymers such as cellulose and hemicelluloses, no enzyme is involved in polymerization of lignin. Various plant phenolics can form radicals and thus they can be incorporated into lignin molecule, indicating that the structure of lignin is extremely complex. In other words, we can manipulate the lignin structure by biosynthesis of noncanonical lignin monomers and their incorporation into lignins. In our collaborative study, the temporal and spatial biosynthesis of various phenolics and their transportation into cell wall will be analyzed using plants including cultured cells and lignocellulose containing lignin with novel structure will be generated by genetic manipulation for its advanced industrial utilization.

Team Head

International Researcher(s)

John Ralph

Affiliation University of Wisconsin (U.S.A.)
Division / Department Department of Biochemical Biology System Engineering
Position Professor
URL

https://biochem.wisc.edu/faculty/ralph

Members

OGINO Kenji  (Institute of Engineering / Professor)
TAKADA Masatsugu  (Institute of Agriculture / Assistant Professor)

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