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In biotechnological processes dedicated to the transformation of lignocellulose in plant cell walls (grass straws, wood fragments), enzymes are necessary to hydrolyse polysaccharides into fermentescible sugars. But their action is often hampered by the establishment of non-specific interactions with some lignin features, an hydrophobic polymer of lignocellulose. Characterization of these interactions is complex to set up in the plant cell walls but essential to adapt pretreatments and the type of enzymes in order to optimize their activity. In the frame of the Lignoprog project funded by the ANR, a collaboration between FARE, the PICT plateform from URCA and the laboratory UGSF CNRS-University of Lille has allowed to develop an original technique that takes advantage of the lifetime fluorescence properties of the lignin to avoid usual limitations when measuring some interactions between fluorophores (Fluorescence Energy Resonanace Transfer). Therefore, some quantitative interactions between fluorescent molecules become possible, leading to the possibility to discriminate the nature of the composition of the cell wall and the nature of the probe regarding strength of the interaction. This approach should pave the way for an improved screening of enzymes involved in the deconstruction of lignocellulose together with a better understanding of the lignin biosynthesis.

Read: Terryn C, Paës G and Spriet C (2018) FRET-SLiM on native autofluorescence: a fast and reliable method to study interactions between fluorescent probes and lignin in plant cell wall. Plant Methods 14, 74

Contact: Dr Gabriel Paës, gabriel.paes@inra.fr