John Ralph

Sep 4, 2024 | nature.com | John Ralph

Cell walls in grasses contain arabinoxylan polysaccharides decorated with ferulate groups but the mechanism by which the ferulate is attached to arabinoxylans has long remained unknown. A new study shows that ferulate is transferred to arabinoxylan from a 3,6-di-O-feruloyl sucrose intermediate formed in a sucrose ferulate cycle.

Mar 9, 2023 | nature.com | Yu Gao |Igor V. Grigoriev |Jenny C. Mortimer |John Ralph |Blake Simmons |Steven Singer | +3 more

AbstractLignocellulose forms plant cell walls, and its three constituent polymers, cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, represent the largest renewable organic carbon pool in the terrestrial biosphere. Insights into biological lignocellulose deconstruction inform understandings of global carbon sequestration dynamics and provide inspiration for biotechnologies seeking to address the current climate crisis by producing renewable chemicals from plant biomass.