Patent ID: 11873498
Assignee: THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Field: Biotechnology (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC C  Y | IPC C

Claim 0:
1. A method of engineering a plant having reduced lignin content, the method comprising:
introducing into the plant an expression cassette comprising a polynucleotide that encodes a protein that reduces the amount of coumaroyl-CoA, caffeoyl-CoA, and/or feruloyl-CoA that is available for a lignin biosynthesis pathway in the plant, wherein the protein is a 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase (C2′H) having at least 95% amino acid sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:14; or the protein is a curcuminoid synthase having at least 95% amino acid sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:34 or SEQ ID NO:35; and further, wherein the polynucleotide is operably linked to a heterologous secondary cell wall-specific promoter, a fiber cell-specific promoter, or a promoter from a gene in the lignin biosynthesis pathway; and
culturing the plant under conditions in which the protein is expressed.