Functional genomics approaches to the mechanisms of starch mobilisation in Arabidopsis

淀粉是支撑植物生长的关键碳和能量储备。这反过来又支撑了澳大利亚600亿美元的农业产业。淀粉还提供了人类饮食中的大部分卡路里，是一种支持制造业的可再生商品。随着淀粉越来越多地用于新型材料和生物乙醇生产，社会对淀粉的依赖将会增加，这反过来又将在农村经济中创造新的就业机会。谷物的主要质量问题是收获前淀粉的分解，这是由温暖潮湿的天气引发的与发芽有关的事件引起的。通过了解植物的淀粉代谢，我们将能够更好地管理和提高作物的生长、淀粉产量和种子质量。

Starch is a key carbon and energy reserve that underpins plant growth. This in turn underpins much of Australia's $60 billion agriculture industry. Starch also provides most of the calories in the human diet and is a renewable commodity supporting manufacturing industries. Dependence of society on starch will increase as it becomes used more for novel materials and for bio-ethanol production, which in turn will create new jobs in the rural economy. A major quality problem in cereal grain is pre-harvest starch breakdown caused by warm wet weather triggering events associated with germination. By understanding starch metabolism in plants we will be better able to manage and enhance growth of crop plants, starch production and seed quality.