Plant starch research made easy using yeast
A recent "BMC Biology" paper by Dr. Barbara Pfister in the Zeeman lab (IMPB) uses yeast as a host to obtain a clear-cut view on how plant enzymes synthesize starch. Systematic expression modulation shows that enzyme ratios strongly influence glucan structure, providing avenues for modifying starches in crops.
Plant starch is comprised of glucose polymers and is both a major carbohydrate source in human nutrition and an important raw material for industry. Starches from different botanical sources vary in their composition and structure and thus have different uses. However, these native starches still often do not meet industrial requirements, necessitating costly and waste-producing modifications. Targeted improvement of starch crops could serve as a sustainable means to enhance the functionality of native starches. This requires a deep knowledge of the starch biosynthetic process.
Dr. Pfister and colleagues in the Zeeman lab used yeast as a testbed to dissect the functions of plant starch-biosynthetic enzymes and to create diverse starch-like polymers. By systematically modulating the expression of key starch-biosynthetic enzymes, they demonstrated that the different enzymatic ratios strongly influence the polymer’s structure and solubility. Enzyme ratios further controlled starch properties separate from enzyme specificities.
Link to the paper in external pageBMC Biology