Award details

Discovery of the pathway from starch to sucrose in leaves in the dark

Reference	BB/C507361/1
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Alison Smith
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	John Innes Centre
Department	Metabolic Biology
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	307,375
Status	Completed
Type	Research Grant
Start date	01/03/2005
End date	29/02/2008
Duration	36 months

Abstract

The aim of this work is to discover the pathway that converts products of starch degradation to sucrose in leaves at night. Our recent research on Arabidopsis reveals that the initial stages of starch degradation inside the chloroplast produce maltose, which is exported to the cytosol. A reverse genetics approach shows that the initial enzyme responsible for maltose metabolism in the cytosol is a glucosyltransferase (DPE2), which releases one glucose and transfers the other to a glucan acceptor. We know neither the nature of the glucan acceptor in vivo nor the means by which its glucosyl units are further metabolised. This project will 1) characterise DPE2 to discover the full range of substrates and interacting molecules in vitro and in vivo, 2) use 14C labelling experiments to identify candidate proteins and carbohydrates downstream of DPE2 for the glucan acceptor and for enzyme that synthesis, 3) use reverse genetic approaches to investigate the roles of candidate proteins putatively involved in these downstream processes. The results will identify a novel and essential pathway of primary carbon metabolism, and shed new light on the control of carbon assimilation and partitioning in leaves.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Plant & Microbial Sciences (PMS)
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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