14 ERA-CAPS. Designing starch - harnessing carbohydrate polymer synthesis in plants

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Starch is a natural product produced by most land plants and algae with remarkable physicochemicalproperties. It is composed of two polymers of glucose: amylose, a predominantly linear polymer, and amylopectin, which also contains branch points, resulting in a tree-like structure. The simple constituents of starch is contrasted by its complex and highly ordered structure, in which crystalline and amorphous layers alternate in a defined and regular fashion. This structure gives starch uniquephysicochemical properties, which make it an exceptionally tightly packed energy storage that is ofsuch tremendous importance for the human diet and economy as a whole. Despite decades of intenseresearch, it is still not understood how precisely starch granule biogenesis initiates and progresses. Arelatively small number of enzymes are involved, but it is unclear how their activities are coordinatedin order to ultimately control the structure and properties of starch.The objective of our project is to gain a profound understanding of the regulation and control of thebiophysical and biochemical processes involved in the formation of the complex polymeric structurethat is the starch granule. We will apply this understanding to recreate the synthesis of starch in the test tubeand learn to control its physical and chemical properties in a targeted way. By producing starchsynthesising enzymes in yeast, an organism not natively producing starch, we will design starches withnew properties.