Fig. 1.

SA levels, growth, and cold-water–extractable pectin in a population of transgenic alfalfa plants with lignin levels down-regulated at different steps in the monolignol pathway. (A) Stem height. (B) Pectin extractable from cell walls by cold water. The plant lines are color-coded depending on the gene target: red, 4-coumarate CoA ligase; black, coumaroyl shikimate 3′-hydroxylase; green, HCT; white, caffeoyl CoA 3-O-methyltransferase; violet, CCR; pink, cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase; gray, caffeic acid 3-O-methyltransferase; blue, WT. P < 0.0001. Stems with six internodes were harvested before flowering. For each transgenic line, three biological replicates were taken, each consisting of a pool of three stems from different plants.