Wood is the most important natural and endlessly renewable source of energy and therefore
has a major future role as an environmentally cost-effective alternative to burning fossils …

Lignin, a complex heteropolymer of cinnamyl alcohols, is, second to cellulose, the most
abundant biopolymer on Earth. Lignification has played a determining role in the adaptation …

Winner of a 2009 Outstanding Academic Title (OAT) award Trees continue to maintain a
unique significance in the social, ecological and economic systems of the world-as large …

The enzyme 4‐coumarate: CoA ligase (4CL) plays a key role in channelling carbon flow into
diverse branch pathways of phenylpropanoid metabolism which serve important functions in …

The conversion of plant biomass into liquid transportation fuels is a complex process that
could be simplified by altering the ratios of the cell wall polymers that constitute the main …

Genetic association is a powerful method for dissecting complex adaptive traits due to (i) fine-
scale map** resulting from historical recombination,(ii) wide coverage of phenotypic and …

A central question in lignin biosynthesis is how guaiacyl intermediates are hydroxylated and
methylated to the syringyl monolignol in angiosperms. To address this question, we cloned …

4-Coumarate: CoA ligases (4CLs, EC 6.2. 1.12) are a group of enzymes necessary for
maintaining a continuous metabolic flux for the biosynthesis of plant phenylpropanoids, such …

Cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD; EC 1.1. 1.195) has been thought to mediate the
reduction of both coniferaldehyde and sinapaldehyde into guaiacyl and syringyl …

Secondary xylem (wood) formation is likely to involve some genes expressed rarely or not at
all in herbaceous plants. Moreover, environmental and developmental stimuli influence …