Cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD) is a key enzyme involved in the last step of monolignol biosynthesis. The effect of CAD down-regulation on lignin production was investigated through a transgenic approach in maize. Transgenic CAD-RNAi plants show a different degree of enzymatic reduction depending on the analyzed tissue and show alterations in cell wall composition. Cell walls of CAD-RNAi s...

The content and composition of the plant cell wall polymer lignin affect plant fitness, carbon sequestration potential, and agro-industrial processing. These characteristics, are heavily influenced by the supply of hydroxycinnamyl alcohol precursors synthesized by the enzyme cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD). In angiosperms, CAD is encoded by a multigene family consisting of members thought ...

Abstract Lignin content and its molecular structure influence various wood characteristics. In this study, the anatomical physicochemical properties of derived from a naturally occurring mulberry mutant deficient in cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD), key enzyme lignin biosynthesis, were analyzed using conventional staining assays on stem sections, length width measurements xylem fiber cells,...

The strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) is one of the most preferred fresh fruit worldwide, accumulates numerous flavonoids but has limited shelf life due to excessive tissue softening caused by cell wall degradation. Since lignin is one of the polymers that strengthen plant cell walls and might contribute to some extent to fruit firmness monolignol biosynthesis was studied in strawberry fruit. Ci...

Brown midrib mutants have been isolated in maize (Zea mays), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) and pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) arising by either spontaneous or chemical mutagenesis. The characteristic brown coloration of the leaf mid veins is associated with reduced lignin content and altered lignin composition, traits useful to improve forage digestibility for livestock. Brown midrib phenotype i...

Basal stem rot, caused by the basidiomycete fungus, Ganoderma boninense, is an economically devastating disease in Malaysia. Our study investigated the changes in lignin content and composition along with activity and expression of the phenylpropanoid pathway enzymes and genes in oil palm root tissues during G. boninense infection. We sampled control (non-inoculated) and infected (inoculated) s...

The presence of lignin reduces the quality of lignocellulosic biomass for forage materials and feedstock for biofuels. In C4 grasses, the brown midrib phenotype has been linked to mutations to genes in the monolignol biosynthesis pathway. For example, the Bmr6 gene in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) has been previously shown to encode cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD), which catalyzes the final st...