Publications by authors named "Shenquan Cao"

The increase in industrialization has led to a significant energy crisis, sparking interest in lignocellulosic biomass for fuel ethanol production because of its renewable characteristics. The complex composition of this biomass requires pretreatment to reduce inhibitors like furfural and hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), which hinder enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation, ultimately decreasing ethanol yields. This study investigates the detoxification mechanisms of furan aldehydes in Scheffersomyces stipitis, particularly through the upregulation of genes SsOYE2.

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Programmed cell death (PCD) is essential for wood development in trees. However, the determination of crucial factors involved in xylem PCD of wood development is still lacking. Here, two Populus trichocarpa typical aspartic protease (AP) genes, AP17 and AP45, modulate xylem maturation, especially fibre PCD, during wood formation.

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Plant cellulose is synthesized by a large plasma membrane-localized cellulose synthase (CesA) complex. However, an overall functional determination of secondary cell wall (SCW) CesAs is still lacking in trees, especially one based on gene knockouts. Here, the Cas9/gRNA-induced knockouts of PtrCesA4, 7A, 7B, 8A and 8B genes were produced in Populus trichocarpa.

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Background: Aspartic protease (AP) is one of four large proteolytic enzyme families that are involved in plant growth and development. Little is known about the AP gene family in tree species, although it has been characterized in Arabidopsis, rice and grape. The AP genes that are involved in tree wood formation remain to be determined.

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Wood is derived from the secondary growth of tree stems. In this study, we investigated the global changes of protein abundance in Populus early stems using a proteomic approach. Morphological and histochemical analyses revealed three typical stages during Populus early stems, which were the primary growth stage, the transition stage from primary to secondary growth and the secondary growth stage.

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Maturation of chloroplast ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) comprises several endoribonucleolytic and exoribonucleolytic processing steps. However, little is known about the specific enzymes involved and the cleavage steps they catalyze. Here, we report the functional characterization of the single Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) gene encoding a putative YbeY endoribonuclease.

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