PubMed · 2026-05-14
Scientists have mapped out the best old and new strategies for understanding the enzymes that build and reshape plant cell walls — the sugar-chain scaffolding that gives plants their structure and produces dietary fiber. Advances in CRISPR editing, AI protein modeling, and lab automation are now making it far faster to decode what each enzyme does and engineer them for food, fuel, and sustainable materials.
Plant cell wall enzymes (CAZymes) are far harder to study than their microbial counterparts because plants carry many near-identical gene copies that mask each enzyme's individual function — a problem called genetic redundancy.
A new generation of tools — including CRISPR base editing, AI protein structure models, cell-free expression systems, and high-throughput screening — is dramatically accelerating the identification and engineering of these enzymes.
Mastering these enzymes has concrete downstream payoffs: improved dietary fibers for human health, more efficient biofuel feedstocks, and bio-based structural materials that could replace petroleum-derived plastics in a circular bioeconomy.