Cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD) catalyses the final step in the biosynthesis of monolignols. In the present study, a cDNA encoding a CAD was isolated from wheat, designated as TaCAD1. A genome-wide data mining in the wheat EST database revealed another 10 CAD-like homologues, namely TaCAD2 to TaCAD11. A phylogenetic analysis showed that TaCAD1 belonged to the bona fide CAD group involved i...

Novel lignin is formed in a mutant loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) severely depleted in cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (E.C. 1.1.1.195), which converts coniferaldehyde to coniferyl alcohol, the primary lignin precursor in pines. Dihydroconiferyl alcohol, a monomer not normally associated with the lignin biosynthetic pathway, is the major component of the mutant's lignin, accounting for approxima...

Pine wilt disease (PWD) caused by the pine wood nematode (PWN), Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, is a globally distributed destructive of forest. To study PWD pathogenic mechanism, cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase gene (BxCAD-1) from B. xylophilus was selected. The BxCAD-1 amplified PCR cDNA library and cloned into expression vector pET-15b to construct recombinant pET-15b-BxCAD-1. protein purified Ni...

In the crystal structure of the title compound, C(20)H(16)O(5), the mol-ecule assumes an E configuration with the benzene ring and chromenecarboxyl group located on opposite ends of the C=C double bond. The chromene ring system and benzene ring are oriented at a dihedral angle of 74.66 (12)°. Weak inter-molecular C-H⋯O hydrogen bonding is present in the crystal structure.

The manipulation of lignin could, in principle, facilitate efficient biofuel production from plant biomass. Despite intensive study of the lignin pathway, uncertainty exists about the enzyme catalyzing the last step in syringyl (S) monolignol biosynthesis, the reduction of sinapaldehyde to sinapyl alcohol. Traditional schemes of the pathway suggested that both guaiacyl (G) and S monolignols are...

During lignin biosynthesis in angiosperms, coniferyl and sinapyl aldehydes are believed to be converted into their corresponding alcohols by cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD) and by sinapyl alcohol dehydrogenase (SAD), respectively. This work clearly shows that CAD-C and CAD-D act as the primary genes involved in lignin biosynthesis in the floral stem of Arabidopsis thaliana by supplying bot...