KSEF RDE: Defining Starch Dephosphorylation in Algal Energy Storage

  • Gentry, Matthew (PI)

Grants and Contracts Details

Description

Starch is the major energy cache in plants and algae. Starch-storing crops are raised and harvested for their non-transitory, starch-storing organs. These crops are utilized largely as food, but also as first-generation biofuels. In addition to its long-term energy storage role, starch also functions as a dynamic energy pool in many Kingdom Plantae/Archaeplastida members. In Arabidopsis thaliana, starch is synthesized during the day in leaves as a primary product of photosynthesis and is then remobilized the following night to sustain metabolism. Up to half of the photo-assimilated carbon is partitioned into this so-called “transitory starch.” The objective of this proposal is to elucidate the molecular mechanisms governing energy metabolism in algae via control of starch composition and utilization.
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date7/1/116/30/13

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