The research interests of our group are centered on understanding phenylpropanoid metabolism and plant cell wall lignocellulosic formation and modification.

    Phenylpropanoid biosynthetic pathway in vascular plants leads to the formation of a variety of organic compounds that impart plant structural integrity (cell wall polymer lignin), or modulate plant defense responses and plant-environmental interactions (e.g., flavonoids and isoflavonoids). These phenolic and polyphenolic metabolites in vascular plants constitute a major sink of organic carbon. Particularly, lignin, one major class of phenylpropanoids, together with cell wall polysaccharides in vascular plants constitutes the most abundant renewable biomass (cell wall lignocelluloses) on earth. The non-cellulosic polysaccharide and lignin polymers in cell wall afford a variety of biochemical modifications. Such modification likely changes the physical and chemical properties of cell wall structure and negatively impacts cell wall biomass degradability.

    Through the integrated biochemical genomics/genetics approaches, our group is systemically characterizing the biochemical functions and biological roles of the enzymes involved in phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and cell wall lignocellulosic modifications. We are particularly focusing on the enzymes involved in lignocellulosic O-methylation and O-acylesterification. By employing X-ray crystallographic strategy, we are also exploring the structure-function relationships of these key modification enzymes; meanwhile, we are utilizing information of the crystal structures of phenylpropanoid biosynthetic enzymes to design novel catalysts for the genetic modification of lignocellulosic structural properties. The goal of our group is to apply the knowledge gained from these studies towards reducing the recalcitrance of bioenergy crops for biofuel production, enhancing plant feedstock biomass production, and engineering value-added chemicals.