Graphical abstractAn EST library derived from xylogenic cells has been used to direct transcriptional profiling of genetically engineered tobacco lines which show improved biomass saccharification.Highlights► Description of a xylogenic EST. ► Cell wall consequences of down-regulation of lignin and xylan. ► Improved saccharification of secondary walls but not primary walls. ► Transcriptional analysis of cell wall biosynthesis genes in modified transgenic lines. ► Identification of transcription factors.

Despite the clear demand for open data sharing, its implementation within plant science is still limited. This is, at least in part, because open data-sharing raises several unanswered questions and challenges to current research practices. In this commentary, some of the challenges encountered by plant researchers at the bench when generating, interpreting, and attempting to disseminate their data have been highlighted. The difficulties involved in sharing sequencing, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics data are reviewed. The benefits and drawbacks of three data-sharing venues currently available to plant scientists are identified and assessed: (i) journal publication; (ii) university repositories; and (iii) community and project-specific databases. It is concluded that community and project-specific databases are the most useful to researchers interested in effective data sharing, since these databases are explicitly created to meet the researchers’ needs, support extensive curation, and embody a heightened awareness of what it takes to make data reuseable by others. Such bottom-up and community-driven approaches need to be valued by the research community, supported by publishers, and provided with long-term sustainable support by funding bodies and government. At the same time, these databases need to be linked to generic databases where possible, in order to be discoverable to the majority of researchers and thus promote effective and efficient data sharing. As we look forward to a future that embraces open access to data and publications, it is essential that data policies, data curation, data integration, data infrastructure, and data funding are linked together so as to foster data access and research productivity.

No abstract

Synthetic biology is an emerging field uniting scientists from all disciplines with the aim of designing or re-designing biological processes. Initially, synthetic biology breakthroughs came from microbiology, chemistry, physics, computer science, materials science, mathematics, and engineering disciplines. A transition to multicellular systems is the next logical step for synthetic biologists and plants will provide an ideal platform for this new phase of research. This meeting report highlights some of the exciting plant synthetic biology projects, and tools and resources, presented and discussed at the 2013 GARNet workshop on plant synthetic biology.

As bioethanol from sugarcane and wheat falls out of favour due to concerns about food security, research is ongoing into genetically engineering model plants and microorganisms to find the optimum cell wall structure for the ultimate second generation bioethanol crop. Charis Cook and Alessandra Devoto highlight here the progress made to tailor the plant cell wall to improve the accessibility of cellulose by acting on the regulation, the structure or the relative composition of other cell wall components to ultimately improve saccharification efficiency. They also consider possible side effects of cell wall modification and focus on the latest advances made to improve the efficiency of digestion of lignocellulosic materials by cell wall degrading microorganisms.