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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Technical Advances in Plant Science
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1423072
This article is part of the Research Topic Trends and Challenges in Plant Biomonitoring, Bioremediation and Biomining View all 5 articles

Visualization of Lignification in Flax Stems Cell Walls with Novel Click-Compatible Monolignol Analogs

Provisionally accepted
Lan Yao Lan Yao 1Rui Wang Rui Wang 1Chang Geun Yoo Chang Geun Yoo 2Yuhang Zhang Yuhang Zhang 1Xianzhi Meng Xianzhi Meng 3Wei Liu Wei Liu 1Arthur J. Ragauskas Arthur J. Ragauskas 3Haitao Yang Haitao Yang 1*
  • 1 Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan, China
  • 2 SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, New York, United States
  • 3 The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    As an essential part of plant cell walls, lignin provides mechanical support for plant growth, enhances water transport, and helps to defend against pathogens. As the most abundant natural aromatic-based renewable resource on earth, its biosynthesis has always been a research focus, and it is still under study nowadays. In this study, the p-coumaryl alcohol analog (H ALK ) and the coniferyl alcohol analog (G ALK ) containing an alkyne group at the ortho position were synthesized and applied to lignification in vivo and in vitro. The incorporation of these novel lignin monomers was observed via fluorescence imaging. It was found that the two monolignol analogs could be incorporated in dehydrogenated polymers (DHPs) in vitro and in flax cell walls in vivo. The results showed that as the cultivation time and precursor concentration varied, the deposition of H and G-type lignin exhibited differences in deposition mode. At the subcellular scale, the deposited lignin first appears in the cell corner and the middle lamella, and then gradually appears on the cell walls. Furthermore, lignin was also found in bast fiber. It was demonstrated that these new molecules could provide high-resolution localization of lignin during polymerization.

    Keywords: Lignin, Click Chemistry, monolignol analog, alkyne group, Flax

    Received: 25 Apr 2024; Accepted: 22 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Yao, Wang, Yoo, Zhang, Meng, Liu, Ragauskas and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Haitao Yang, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan, China

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