Editorial: Understanding plant cell wall recalcitrance for efficient lignocellulose processing

Frontiers in Plant Science, vol. 14, pp. 1284658

Abstract

Understanding plant cell wall recalcitrance for efficient lignocellulose processingPlant cell walls are complex structures fulfilling a variety of functions throughout a plant's life.They maintain the plant's structural integrity by resisting hydrostatic pressure, and at the same time, provide flexibility to support cell growth and division while being an environmental barrier that defends against biotic and abiotic stress.Cell walls are therefore difficult to degrade, which is a major obstacle for many approaches to utilise plant material (McCann and Carpita, 2015;Zoghlami and Paës, 2019).An enhanced understanding of the complex interplay of the different cell wall compounds and their contribution to the cell wall´s resistance towards conversion reactions will lead to more sophisticated strategies to utilize plant biomass for materials, chemicals, and fuels.This resistance of plant cell walls to degradation or conversion can be described by the concept of biomass recalcitrance.This concept describes the global resistance towards any catalytic attack by mechanical, physical, chemical, or biological forces (McCann and Carpita, 2015).It is due to the complex structure and composition of cell walls, which are made up of different types of polymers such as cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin that are tightly interconnected.Biomass recalcitrance poses a major challenge to the development of sustainable biorefineries and the production of renewable energy and bio-based products.To overcome this challenge, researchers are exploring various strategies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of biomass conversion processes, such as pretreatment methods that can weaken the cell wall structure and improve the accessibility of enzymes to the plant cell wall components.This Research Topic consists of 7 original research articles which addressed different aspects of generating a better understanding of the chemical composition and structure of plant cell walls and their relation to cell wall recalcitrance, developing genetic strategies to ease cell wall disintegration in pretreatment and fractionation processes and evaluation of novel techniques and methods for analysing cell wall recalcitrance.

Authors 2

1. Holger Klose corresponding Aachen

   RWTH Aachen University · Universitätsklinikum Aachen · Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Bio- and Geosciences, IBG-2: Plant Sciences, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany

   RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

   IBG - Institute of Bio- and Geosciences [Jülich] (Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH - France)

   UKA - Universitätsklinikum RWTH Aachen - University Hospital Aachen [Aachen, Germany] (Universitätsklinikum Aachen, AöR - Pauwelsstraße 30 - 52074 Aachen - Germany)

2. Gabriel Paës

   Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement · Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne · Fractionnation of AgroResources and Environment

   Affiliation as printed

   Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, INRAE, FARE, UMR A 614, Reims, France

   FARE - Fractionnement des AgroRessources et Environnement (Centre de Recherche en Environnement et Agronomie 2 esplanade Roland Garros BP 224 51686 REIMS CEDEX 2 - France)