Author
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Ralph, John |
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Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Proceedings Publication Acceptance Date: 6/3/2001 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: We have recently been interested in understanding how plants respond to perturbations in the lignin biosynthetic pathway, by examining natural mutants and transgenic plants. The potential to improve plant utilization in various natural and industrial processes by altering the amount, composition, and/or structure of lignin is currently attracting considerable interest. Studying various plants with deficiencies in pathwa genes provides insights into the flexibility of the lignification process and enhances our understanding of "normal" lignification. The talk will detail some of the recent information obtained on several mutants and transgenics analyzed, and comment on how the current theories on lignification fit the observations.Recent studies have shown that manipulating specific lignin-biosynthetic-pathway genes produces profound alterations in plant lignins. The recognition that normally minor or novel units can incorporate into lignins provides significantly expanded opportunities for engineering their composition and consequent properties. These data and others suggest that the "random coupling" model for lignification continues to be the best theory at the present time. |
