Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (EC 4.3.1.5) has been purified from differentiating secondary xylem of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.). Native molecular weight of the enzyme was estimated to be 280,000, with a subunit molecular weight of 74,000; isoelectric point, 5.8; and Michaelis constant for i-phenylalanine, 27 micromolar. No evidence was obtained for the existence of isoforms of the enzyme, nor for negative cooperativity of substrate binding. Polyclonal antibodies were raised against the phenylalanine ammonia-lyase subunit and used to identify a pal clone in an expression library of xylem complementary DNA (cDNA). Polymerase chain reaction, using oligonucleotide primers made from N-terminal amino acid sequence and from the 5' end of the clone isolated from the expression library, was also used to isolate cDNA clones. These methods yielded cDNA clones covering the protein coding region of the pal messenger RNA. Comparisons of nucleotide sequence of pal cDNAs from pine, bean, sweet potato, and rice showed 60 to 62% identity between the pine clone and the angiosperm clones.