Environmental Variation in Plant Cell Wall Composition and Implications for Bioenergy

Greater understanding of the genetic control of plant cell wall biosynthesis, assembly, and maintenance will assist efforts to develop crops that are more effective feedstocks for bioenergy or forage.  Fast, inexpensive assays are needed to assay cell wall composition in genetically diverse populations and to identify variation in wall composition between plant growth environments.  We used several distinct, published profiling methods to assess content of lignin, sugars, and sugar polymers in a diverse set of rice varieties in two environments (greenhouse and field).  For most varieties, composition between stems and leaves varied.  Assays revealed major differences in composition between the growth environments. Ash was higher and hemicellulose lower in tissues grown in the field than in the greenhouse. We discuss the assays, and, in relation to our results, their utility for large scale phenotyping of genetic populations.