Cited by 1,054Lignin and Wood ChemistryPolysaccharides and Plant Cell WallsPlant-derived Lignans Synthesis and Bioactivity

Lignin structure and its engineering

Open access
Ralph, John, Lapierre, Catherine, Boerjan, Wout·2019·Current Opinion in Biotechnology

Abstract

Studies on lignin structure and its engineering are inextricably and bidirectionally linked. Perturbations of genes on the lignin biosynthetic pathway may result in striking compositional and structural changes that in turn suggest novel approaches for altering lignin and even 'designing' the polymer to enhance its value or with a view toward its simpler removal from the cell wall polysaccharides. Basic structural studies on various native lignins increasingly refine our knowledge of lignin structure, and examining lignins in different species reveals the extent to which evolution and natural variation have resulted in the incorporation of 'non-traditional' phenolic monomers, including phenolics from beyond the monolignol biosynthetic pathway. As a result, the very definition of lignin continues to be expanded and refined.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.copbio.2019.02.019

Cites

72 of 72 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Lignin derived from softwood, hardwood, and grass possess different contents of S, G, and H units that are typically cross-linked through C-O and C-C bonds.

    “Lignin derived from softwood, hardwood, and grass possess different contents of S, G, and H units that are typically cross-linked through C-O and C-C bonds [43], as shown in Fig. 7.”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 8

  1. Lu F, Ralph J: The DFRC (Derivatization Followed by Reductive Cleavage) method and its applications for lignin characterization. In Lignin: Structural Analysis, Applications in Biomaterials, and Ecological Significance. Edited by Lu F. Nova Science Publishers, Inc.; 2014:27-65.
  2. Li Y, Akiyama T, Yokoyama T, Matsumoto Y: NMR assignment for diaryl ether structures (4ÀOÀ5 structures) in pine wood lignin. Biomacromolecules 2016, 17:1921-1929.
  3. Vanholme R, Cesarino I, Rataj K, Xiao Y, Sundin L, Goeminne G, Kim H, Cross J, Morreel K, Araujo P et al.: Caffeoyl shikimate esterase (CSE), a newly discovered gene in the lignin biosynthetic pathway. Science 2013, 341:1103-1106.
  4. Tobimatsu Y, Chen F, Nakashima J, Jackson L, Escamilla- Trevin ˜o LL, Dixon RA, Ralph J: Coexistence but independent biosynthesis of catechyl and guaiacyl/syringyl lignins in plant seeds. Plant Cell 2013, 25:2587-2600.
  5. Lapierre C, Tollier MT, Monties B: A new type of constitutive unit in lignins from the corn bm3 mutant. C R Acad Sci. Se´rie III 1988, 307:723-728.
  6. Petrik DL, Karlen SD, Cass CL, Padmakshan D, Lu F, Liu S, Le Bris P, Antelme S, Santoro N, Wilkerson CG et al.: p-Coumaroyl- CoA: monolignol transferase (PMT) acts specifically in the lignin biosynthetic pathway in Brachypodium distachyon. Plant J 2014, 77:713-726.
  7. Bhalla A, Bansal N, Pattathil S, Li M, Shen W, Particka CA, Semaan R, Gonzales-Vigil E, Karlen SD, Ralph J et al.: Engineered lignin in poplar biomass facilitates Cu-AHP pretreatment. ACS Sustain Chem Eng 2018, 6:2932-2941.
  8. Ralph J: What makes a good monolignol substitute? In The Science and Lore of the Plant Cell Wall Biosynthesis, Structure and Function. Edited by Hayashi T. Universal Publishers (BrownWalker Press); 2006:285-293.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Ralph, J., Lapierre, C., & Boerjan, W.
Affiliations
  • University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
  • Ghent University (BE)
Corresponding author
Ralph, John
Venue
Current Opinion in Biotechnology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2019-04
Volume
56
Pages
240-249
ISSN
0958-1669 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2923078072
Cited by
1,054
References
72
Citations by year
2026: 154 · 2025: 192 · 2024: 167 · 2023: 167 · 2022: 126 · 2021: 138 · 2020: 81 · 2019: 29
FWCI
7.54
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Current Opinion in Biotechnology (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion)
  • Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (DE-FC02-07ER64494, DE-SC0018409)
  • INRA
  • LabEx Saclay Plant Sciences-SPS (ANR–10–LABX–0040–SPS)
  • IWT-SBO (130039)
  • IWT-FISH-SBO (140894)
  • FWO (GOC1914N, G020618N)
  • Stanford University’s Global Climate and Energy Program
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Lignin and Wood Chemistry
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Polysaccharides and Plant Cell Walls
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Plant-derived Lignans Synthesis and Bioactivity
Keywords
lignin structure, lignin engineering, lignin biosynthesis, gene perturbation, lignin composition
MeSH terms
Cell Wall, Lignin, Models, Molecular, Biosynthetic Pathways, Metabolic Engineering

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review