Host: The Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists
Pages 0269
Poplar cellulase (PaPopCel1) was overexpressed in a tropical leguminosae tree, sengon (Paraserianthes falcataria), by the Agrobacterium method. Expression increased the length and width of stems with larger leaves, which showed a moderately higher density of green color than those of the wild type. The pairs of leaves in the transgenic plants closed slower than those in the wild-type plants, showing a delay in the closing movements of leaves during sunset. Based on the carbohydrate analyses of cell walls, the leaves in the transgenic plants contained less wall-bound xyloglucan than those in the wild-type plants. The expression supports the concept that the paracrystalline sites of cellulose microfibrils are attacked by poplar cellulase to loosen xyloglucan intercalation followed by an irreversible wall modification, which could promote plant growth and disturb the closing movements of leaves within their biological clock.
