The lignin biosynthesis pathway is part of the general phenylpropanoid pathway which leads to the formation of a large number of phenolic compounds with a range of functions in plant development or in response to external stimuli. The expression pattern and molecular regulation of structural genes in various branches of the pathway have been studied. Although these genes display quite different expression profiles, cis-regulatory elements in their promoters present some common features at the nucleotide sequence level. The involvement of MYB transcription factor in the binding to these cis-elements and in the transcriptional regulation of the corresponding genes has been demonstrated. The emerging data show that multiple plant-specific MYB transcription factors and their associated partner proteins act in concert and/or in competition to produce the wide spectrum of branch-specific expression patterns.