Although the primary structure of proteins, nucleic acids, and carbohydrates can be readily determined, no sequencing method has been described yet for the second most abundant biopolymer on earth (i.e. lignin). Within secondary-thickened plant cell walls, lignin forms an aromatic mesh arising from the combinatorial radical-radical coupling of monolignols and many other less abundant monomers. This polymerization process leads to a plethora of units and linkage types that affect the physicochemical characteristics of the cell wall. Current methods to analyze the lignin structure focus only on the frequency of the major monomeric units and interunit linkage types but do not provide information on the presence of less abundant unknown units and linkage types, nor on how linkages affect the formation of neighboring linkages. Such information can only be obtained using a sequencing approach. Here, we describe, to our knowledge for the first time, a sequencing strategy for lignin oligomers using mass spectrometry. This strategy was then evaluated on the oligomers extracted from wild-type poplar (Populus tremula 3 Populus tremuloides) xylem. In total, 134 lignin trimers to hexamers were observed, of which 36 could be completely sequenced. Interestingly, based on molecular mass data of the unknown monomeric and dimeric substructures, at least 10 unknown monomeric units or interunit linkage types were observed, one of which was identified as an arylglycerol end unit.Lignin is an aromatic heteropolymer that is mainly present in secondary-thickened plant cell walls, allowing the transport of water and nutrients and providing the necessary strength for the plant to grow upwardly Vanholme et al., 2008Vanholme et al., , 2010. In angiosperms, lignin is predominantly composed of guaiacyl (G) and syringyl (S) units that are derived from combinatorial radical-radical coupling of the monolignols coniferyl and sinapyl alcohol, respectively Fig. 1A). Following oxidation of the monolignols by peroxidase and/or laccase, the resulting electron-delocalized radical has unpaired electron density at its 1-, 3-, O-4-, 5-, and 8-positions (Fig. 1B); note that much of the lignin literature uses Greek letters for the side chain, a, b, and g for the 7-, 8-, and 9-positions. As radical coupling at the 8-position is favored, coupling with another monolignol radical affords, after rearomatization, a mixture of dehydrodimers with 8-8-, 8-5-, and 8-O-4-linkages (Fig. 1C). Following dimerization, polymerization will continue by the coupling of the 8-position of an incoming monolignol radical to the O-4-position of the dimer's phenolic end. In the case of a G dimer, coupling can also occur, albeit at a lower frequency, to the 5-position. Thus, chain elongation creates 8-5-and 8-O-4-linkages (Adler, 1977). Besides the monolignols and other monomers that are present in minor amounts , the plasticity of lignin polymerization permits the incorporation of any phenolic that enters the lignification site, subject to its chemical cross-coupling propensit...