Understanding Cell Wall Enzyme Function: From Classical Approaches to New Biotechnology

Plant cell walls are complex networks of polysaccharides that underpin plant structure and provide dietary fibers that promote human health. These polymers are assembled and remodeled by carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes), which have been more challenging to characterize in plants than in microbes for technical reasons and due to genetic redundancy. This review serves as a primer on strategies to gain functional insights into cell wall-related CAZymes, which are needed for advancing plant biology and the development of applications in food, bioenergy, and bioproducts such as materials with functional structures and composition. We summarize classical biochemical assays and genetic approaches alongside emerging solutions, including high-throughput screening, cell-free systems, microbial hosts, and plant-based platforms. We also highlight synthetic biology tools such as CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing and base editing, which accelerate functional annotation and enzyme engineering. Integrative approaches that combine modular expression systems, artificial intelligence (AI) protein models, and lab automation have the potential to efficiently design plant cell walls for improved nutrition and sustainable bioproducts in a circular bioeconomy.