As climate change drives a green transition, the demand for wood is increasing, risking deforestation and biodiversity loss. Developing wood alternatives could ease these pressures.
Wood’s industrial value partly lies in its lignin, a hydrophobic polymer impregnating vascular plant secondary cell walls. Understanding lignin polymerization remains a challenge as research has proved difficult due to the genetic complexity of vascular plants and the essential role of lignin in their development.
Supported by the European Union Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) program, the LigMo project will address these challenges by using the moss Physcomitrium patens, a non-vascular plant with several lignin gene homologs but no lignified tissues. By systematically engineering this moss with genes from vascular plants, the project seeks to unravel key aspects of lignin polymerization and develop new biomaterials. The LigMo project thus emerges as a pioneering initiative that combines both basic and applied research components. The project is led by Aldo ALMEIDA and coordinated by Hugues RENAULT.
LigMo: A genetic engineering approach for Lignification of cell walls from Moss to develop novel wood-like biomass – https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101152919
