RECOMBINANT VECTORS MODIFYING THE EXPRESSION LEVELS OF MONOLIGNOL TRANSPORTER GENES, AND TRANSGENIC PLANTS WITH MODIFIED LEVELS OF LIGNIN

摘要

The present invention relates to genes involved in extracellular transport of p-coumaryl alcohol among monolignols, as a main component of lignin, and transgenic plants produced by using the genes. More particularly, the present invention relates to compositions comprising genes mainly involved in extracellular transport of p-coumaryl alcohol to influence the contents of lignin; recombinant vectors comprising the genes and transgenic plants produced by using the recombinant vectors to have increased contents of lignin; and recombinant vectors down-regulating expressions of the genes and transgenic plants produced by using the recombinant vectors. The compositions, recombinant vectors, and transgenic plants of the present invention influence the monolignol transport itself to change the contents of lignin, thereby producing transgenic plants having effectively increased or decreased contents of lignin. Therefore, the present invention is expected to be applied in producing transgenic plants having increased physical timber strength and increased contents of lignin and importantly applied in producing transgenic plants having decreased contents of lignin and thus being easily used for production of bio-fuels or pulps.