East Lansing, Michigan
August 18, 2008
Scientists at
Michigan State University (MSU)
have identified a new protein necessary for chloroplast
development. The discovery could ultimately lead to plant
varieties tailored specifically for biofuel production.
Chloroplasts, which are specialized compartments in plant cells,
convert sunlight, carbon dioxide and water into sugars and
oxygen ("fuel" for the plant) during photosynthesis. The newly
discovered protein, trigalactosyldiacylglycerol 4, or TGD4,
offers insight into how the process works.
"Nobody knew how this mechanism worked before we described this
protein," said Christoph Benning, MSU professor of biochemistry
and molecular biology. "This protein directly affects
photosynthesis and how plants create biomass (stems, leaves and
stalks) and oils."
Benning also is a member of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research
Center, a partnership between MSU and the University of
Wisconsin-Madison funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to
conduct basic research aimed at solving some of the most complex
problems in converting natural materials to energy.
The research, published in the August 2008 issue of journal The
Plant Cell, shows how TGD4 is essential for the plant to make
chloroplasts. Plants that don't have the protein die before they
can develop beyond the embryonic stage.
Understanding how TGD4 works may allow scientists to create
plants that would be used exclusively to produce biofuels,
possibly making the process more cost-effective. Most plants
that are used to produce oils – corn, soybeans and canola, for
example – accumulate the oil in their seeds.
"We've found that if the TGD4 protein is malfunctioning, the
plant then accumulates oil in its leaves," Benning said. "If the
plant is storing oil in its leaves, there could be more oil per
plant, which could make production of biofuels such as biodiesel
more efficient. More research is needed so we can completely
understand the mechanism of operation."
Other members of the MSU research team are: Changcheng Xu,
research assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular
biology; Jilian Fan, research technician; and Adam Cornish,
biochemistry undergraduate student at the time of the research
and current graduate student.
The research was funded by the Energy Department and the
National Science Foundation. Benning's research also is
supported by the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station.
For more information on MSU's biofuel and bioenergy research,
visit:
www.bioeconomy.msu.edu. |
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