The Minor Wall-Networks between Monolignols and Interlinked-Phenolics Predominantly Affect Biomass Enzymatic Digestibility in Miscanthus

Plant lignin is one of the major wall components that greatly contribute to biomass recalcitrance for biofuel production. In this study, total 79 representative Miscanthus germplasms were determined with wide biomass digestibility and diverse monolignol composition. Integrative analyses indicated that three major monolignols (S, G, H) and S/G ratio could account for lignin negative influence on biomass digestibility upon NaOH and H₂SO₄ pretreatments. Notably, the biomass enzymatic digestions were predominately affected by the non-KOH-extractable lignin and interlinked-phenolics, other than the KOH-extractable ones that cover 80% of total lignin. Furthermore, a positive correlation was found between the monolignols and phenolics at p<0.05 level in the non-KOH-extractable only, suggesting their tight association to form the minor wall-networks against cellulases accessibility. The results indicated that the non-KOH-extractable lignin-complex should be the target either for cost-effective biomass pretreatments or for relatively simply genetic modification of plant cell walls in Miscanthus.