Photoaffinity labelled protein purification to identify novel players involved in lignification 

Plants form the cornerstone of the bio-based economy as they can convert solar power into organic compounds. The polysaccharides in their cell wall can be enzymatically converted to sugars that can be fermented into a plethora of products. This process is largely hampered by lignin, an aromatic heteropolymer that covers the polysaccharide matrix. Reducing lignin content or modifying its composition can boost the release of sugars from plant biomass. On the other hand, lignin is a valuable polymer as it can provide lead molecules for a wide variety of chemicals that are nowadays derived from fossil resources. The main limiting factor to exploit or avoid lignin is the current lack of information and insight to steer lignification in a specific desired direction. This project aims at increasing the fundamental knowledge on lignification by using photoaffinity labelled protein purification, a powerful technique that complements the classical approaches used to detect novel players in biochemical pathways. For this approach, synthetic photoactive monolignols are used that can covalently bind to the active sites of proteins. After cross-coupling the compound can be purified together with its interacting proteins. A subset of promising hits will be further studied using a reverse genetic approach. This challenging project relies on the strong collaboration between partners with different expertise and should expand our understanding of lignification.