“…Evidence is now indisputable, from diagnostic NMR data and from thioacidolysis markers, that hydroxycinnamaldehydes do indeed incorporate into lignins, by endwise radical coupling mechanisms, particularly in CADdeficient angiosperms (Kim et al, 2002(Kim et al, , 2003Lapierre et al, 2004;Ralph et al, 1998Ralph et al, , 2001. Similarly, as again revealed by thioacidolysis and NMR, in COMT-deficient angiosperms, the novel monomer 5-hydroxyconiferyl alcohol (partially) substitutes for the sinapyl alcohol whose production is thwarted, producing novel benzodioxane structures in the lignins (Jouanin et al, 2000;Marita et al, 2001Marita et al, , 2003Morreel et al, 2004;Ralph et al, 2001). Contrary to claims that incorporation of non-monolignol monomers has been 'unequivocally disproven' (Anterola and Lewis, 2002;Lewis, 1999;Patten et al, 2005), monomer substitution is well authenticated in lignification, and evidence continues to mount that natural and mutant/transgenic lignins may derive from quite an array of phenolic precursors Boudet, 1998;Lu et al, 2004;Ralph, 2006;Ralph et al, 2004bRalph et al, , 2007Ralph et al, , 2008Sederoff et al, 1999).…”