Modification of lignin is recognized as an important aspect of the successful refining of
lignocellulosic biomass, and enzyme-assisted processing and upcycling of lignin is …

The phenylpropanoid pathway serves as a rich source of metabolites in plants and provides
precursors for lignin biosynthesis. Lignin first appeared in tracheophytes and has been …

Emiliania huxleyi, an environmentally important marine microalga, has a bloom-and-bust
lifestyle in which massive algal blooms appear and fade. Phaeobacter gallaeciensis …

Advances in bioanalytical technologies are constantly expanding our insights into complex
ecosystems. Here, we highlight strategies and applications that make use of non-targeted …

The evolution of transporting tissues was an important innovation in terrestrial plants that
allowed them to adapt to almost all nonaquatic environments. These tissues consist of water …

Background Molecular phylogeny has resolved the liverworts as the earliest-divergent clade
of land plants and mosses as the sister group to hornworts plus tracheophytes, with …

As a major component of plant secondary cell walls, lignin provides structural integrity and
rigidity, and contributes to primary defense by providing a physical barrier to pathogen …

Highlights•Lignin evolved from primitive phenylpropanoid metabolism jointly with vascular
plants.•Other phenolic polymers predated lignin, hinting at possible path to lignin …

Lignin, after cellulose, is the second most abundant biopolymer on Earth, accounting for
30% of the organic carbon in the biosphere. It is considered an important evolutionary …

Lignins result from the oxidative polymerization of three hydroxycinnamyl (p-coumaryl,
coniferyl, and sinapyl) alcohols in a reaction mediated by peroxidases. The most important …