Cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase(CAD)is a key enzyme involved in the last step of monolignol biosynthesis.The effect of CAD down-regulation on lignin production was investigated through a transgenic approach in maize.Transgenic CAD-RNAi plants show a different degree of enzymatic reduction depending on the analyzed tissue and show alterations in cell wall composition.Cell walls of CAD-RNAi stems contain a lignin polymer with a slight reduction in the S-to-G ratio without affecting the total lignin content.In addition,these cell walls accumulate higher levels of cellulose and arabinoxylans.In contrast,cell walls of CAD-RNAi midribs present a reduction in the total lignin content and of cell wall polysaccharides.In vitro degradability assays showed that,although to a different extent,the changes induced by the repression of CAD activity produced midribs and stems more degradable than wild-type plants.CAD-RNAi plants grown in the field presented a wild-type phenotype and produced higher amounts of dry biomass.Cellulosic bioethanol assays revealed that CAD-RNAi biomass produced higher levels of ethanol compared to wild-type,making CAD a good target to improve both the nutritional and energetic values of maize lignocellulosic biomass.