Highlights•Hemicelluloses can interact with lignin through covalent cross-links in plant cell
walls.•Different reaction mechanisms can lead to cross-linking using diverse hemicellulose …

The lignin biosynthetic pathway has been studied for more than a century but has
undergone major revisions over the past decade. Significant progress has been made in …

Lignins are complex natural polymers resulting from oxidative coupling of, primarily, 4-
hydroxyphenylpropanoids. An understanding of their nature is evolving as a result of …

The growing demand for transportation fuels, along with concerns about the harmful effects
of greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, has assured a viable future for …

The adverse environmental impacts of the fossil fuel and the concerns of energy security
necessitate the development of alternative clean energy sources from renewable …

Lignin, a phenolic polymer in the secondary wall, is the major cause of lignocellulosic
biomass recalcitrance to efficient industrial processing. From an applications perspective, it …

Over the past four decades, there has been immense progress in every area of lignin
science, ranging from the enzymology of lignin biodegradation, to the delignification of wood …

Wood is an abundant and renewable feedstock for the production of pulp, fuels, and
biobased materials. However, wood is recalcitrant toward deconstruction into cellulose and …

Because lignin limits the use of wood for fiber, chemical, and energy production, strategies
for its downregulation are of considerable interest. We have produced transgenic aspen …

Wood is a renewable resource that is mainly composed of lignin and cell wall
polysaccharides. The polysaccharide fraction is valuable as it can be converted into pulp …