Patent ID: 7238512

Claim:
A method to selectively produce para-hydroxybenzoic acid in plant stem tissue comprising: a. growing a plant under suitable conditions, the plant comprising i. an endogenous source of para-coumaroyl-CoA; and ii. at least one 4-hydroxycinnamoyl-CoA hydratase/lyase (HCHL) expression cassette comprising a nucleic acid molecule encoding a polypeptide having hydroxycinnamoyl CoA hydratase/lyase activity, wherein said nucleic acid molecule is selected from the group consisting of: (a) a nucleic acid molecule comprising a nucleic acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 5, 58, 59, 60, 62, 63, and 64; and (b) a nucleic acid molecule encoding a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 6 and SEQ ID NO: 61; operably linked to a tissue-specific promoter selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 26, 43, 44, 45, 46, 49, 81, 82, and 83; b. recovering unconjugated para-hydroxybenzoic acid and para-hydroxybenzoic acid glucoside from the plant; c. hydrolyzing para-hydroxybenzoic acid glucoside; and d. recovering unconjugated para-hydroxybenzoic acid.