TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - BIOTECHNOLOGY - Preferred Molecule: In the nucleic acid molecule, the nucleic acid is cDNA. The nucleic acid is genomic DNA. Preferred Polypeptide: The polypeptide comprises an amino acid sequence given in the specification. The polypeptide is a variant polypeptide and comprises an amino acid sequence which has 60-70% amino acid sequence identity with the amino acid sequences given in the specification, which sequence has been modified by deletion, addition or substitution of at least one amino acid residue where the modification retains or enhances the enzyme activity of the polypeptide. The polypeptide is a fragment where the fragment has phenol oxidase activity. The vector is adapted for the recombinant expression of the nucleic acid molecule. The promoter sequence is a senescence inducible promoter sequence. The cell is a eukaryotic cell, prokaryotic cell or bacterial cell. The eukaryotic cell is a fungal cell. The fungal cell is selected from: Aspergillus spp, Neurospora spp or Saccaromyces spp. The cell is a plant cell. The cell is transfected with a further nucleic acid molecule where the further nucleic acid molecule encodes a polypeptide that has glycosyl hydrolase activity. The nucleic acid molecule is selected from: (a) a nucleic acid molecule consisting of the nucleic acid sequence given in the specification; (b) a nucleic acid molecule comprising nucleic acid sequences that hybridize to the sequence identified in (a) above under stringent hybridization and encodes a polypeptide with glycosyl hydrolase activity; and (c) a nucleic acid molecule comprising nucleic acid sequences that are degenerate as a result of the genetic code to the nucleic acid sequence defined in (a) and (b). The nucleic acid molecule encodes a protease that digests the hemocyanin polypeptide to provide a phenol oxidase polypeptide. The plant is a biomass plant selected from switchgrass, alfalfa, willow, poplar, eucalyptus, miscanthus, wheat, maize or barley. Preferred Method: In preparing plant biomass, the transgenic plant material is further processed by saccharification to sugar. Alternatively, preparing plant biomass for saccharification comprises: (a) forming a preparation comprising a plant biomass material and at least one polypeptide; (b) incubating the preparation; and optionally (c) processing the plant biomass material by saccharification to sugar. The sugar is used as a feedstock in the production of ethanol by microbial fermentation. EXAMPLE - No example given.