Page 169 - Advances in Textile Biotechnology

7

Engineering of plants for improved
fi bre qualities

M. WRÓBEL-KWIATKOWSKA, Medical University in Wrocław,
Poland; J. SZOPA, University of Wrocław, Poland; and S. HAWKINS,
Université de Lille, France

Abstract: In this chapter, the various types of plant fibres used in
fabrication of paper, cardboard and textiles are defined and the link

between genes, the structure of plant cell walls, and fibre quality is

explained. Examples of how biotechnological engineering has been used
to modify fibre properties in cotton and flax are given. Recent advances

in genomics, proteomics and metabolomics are discussed in terms of how

they are contributing to a greater understanding of fibre formation and
development, thereby paving the way for more sophisticated genetic
engineering in different plant species.
Key words: cotton, fl ax, fibres, genomics, lignin, plant cell wall.

7.1 Introduction

Natural fibres from a number of different plant species have long played

an extremely important role in human society. For example, remains of

linen textiles made from fl ax fibres have been found in prehistoric sites
(9000 bce) from Syria and Israel (Hillman, 1975, van Zeist and Baker-

Heeres, 1975) and recently 30 000 year-old wild fl ax fibres were found in
Paleolithic caves in Georgia (Kvavadze et al., 2009). Today, plant fi bres are
mainly used in the fabrication of paper, cardboard and textiles. Approxi-
mately 190 million tonne of paper and paperboard were produced from
cellulose wood fibres in 2009 (UNECE 2009) and the world market for

textile fi bres has been estimated at around 55 million tonne a year with an
annual growth rate of 2.5% (Sampaio et al., 2005). Cotton is currently the

world’s leading natural textile fibre with over 27 million tonne of cotton

fibres used annually (Chen et al., 2007; Singh et al., 2009). The long bast
fibres from flax and hemp are also being increasingly used in the automobile

and construction industries (in ‘green’, environmentally-friendly composite
materials) because the physicochemical and mechanical properties of these

natural fibres are similar to those of glass fi bres (Baley et al., 2006; Joshi et
al., 2004). The importance of plant ‘fibres’ in human and animal nutrition

(fruit, vegetables) is also becoming increasingly clear. Since the beginning
of agriculture man has selected plants in order to improve the quality of
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