TY - JOUR T1 - Integrative Analysis of Transgenic Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) Suggests New Metabolic Control Mechanisms for Monolignol Biosynthesis A1 - Lee, Yun A1 - Chen, Fang A1 - Gallego-Giraldo, Lina A1 - Dixon, Richard A. A1 - Voit, Eberhard O. Y1 - 2011/05/19 N2 - Author Summary Cellulose-based biofuels presently offer the most environmentally attractive and technologically promising alternative to fossil fuels. To be viable, biofuels must be derived from non-food crops, such as grasses, wood, bark, and plant residues. Techniques for releasing the energy stored in these renewable materials must first untangle a very recalcitrant scaffold of interlinking molecules inside the plant cell walls, which is very costly. Much of the recalcitrance is due to the natural polymer lignin, which hardens the cell walls and is composed of three different building blocks, called monolignols. Modern transgenic techniques have yielded plant lines whose cell walls are easier to break down, but some of these modified plants have exhibited unexplained and undesired features. Here, we present new computational methods for analyzing monolignol biosynthesis in unprecedented detail. The analysis simultaneously accounts for lignin biosynthesis in various transgenic lines and different developmental stages and yields six novel, testable postulates regarding the metabolic control of the pathway. The results suggest new, targeted experiments towards a better understanding of monolignol biosynthesis and issues of recalcitrance reduction. More generally, the results highlight the genuine benefits of using computational methods as companions and complements to experimental studies. JF - PLOS Computational Biology JA - PLOS Computational Biology VL - 7 IS - 5 UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002047 SP - e1002047 EP - PB - Public Library of Science M3 - doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002047 ER -