High‐throughput microarray profiling of cell wall polymers during hydrothermal pre‐treatment of wheat straw

Lignocellulosic plant material is potentially a sustainable source of fermentable sugars for bioethanol production. However, a barrier to this is the high resistance or recalcitrance of plant cell walls to be hydrolyzed. Therefore, a detailed knowledge of the structural features of plant cell walls that contribute to recalcitrance is important for improving the efficiency of bioethanol production. In this work we have used a technique known as Comprehensive Microarray Polymer Profiling (CoMPP) to analyze wheat straw before and after being subjected to hydrothermal pre‐treatments at four different temperatures. The CoMPP technique combines the specificity of monoclonal antibodies with the high‐throughput capacity of microarrays. Changes in the relative abundance of cell wall polysaccharides could be tracked during processing, and a reduction in xylan, arabinoxylans, xyloglucan, and mixed‐linked glucan epitopes was detected at the two highest temperatures of pre‐treatment used. This work demonstrates the potential of CoMPP as a complementally technique to conventional methods for analyzing biomass composition. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2010; 105: 509–514. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.