Fig. 2

Xylan analysis in lines expressing AnAXE1 revealed reduction of O-acetylation and chain length. a OLIMP analysis of acidic xylo-oligosaccharides (XOS) released by endoxylanase. Acidic XOS ranged from DP 3 to 7 (MeGlcA-Xyl3 to MeGlcA-Xyl7) and had 0-6 acetyl groups (Ac0–Ac6). Mean ± SE, n = 2 replicates representing pools of 5 individual trees. b Size exclusion chromatography indicating that transgenic lines have smaller polymer size of xylan and of xylan–lignin complexes (and/or lignin co-extracted with xylan) than the WT. Profiles of three samples are shown per line. The insets show differences among lines in the molecular weight (MW) of the smaller peak, corresponding to xylan, and the main peak, corresponding to xylan, xylan–lignin complexes and lignin co-extracted with xylan. Data and mean ± SE, n = 3–5 biological replicates. a, b Asterisks indicate lines differing significantly from WT: *P ≤ 0.1, **P ≤ 0.05; ***P ≤ 0.01 (Student’s t test). P values shown above the bars correspond to post-ANOVA contrast analysis comparing both transgenic lines to WT