Starch biosynthesis applications

Research in starch biosynthesis is likely to have a great impact on agriculture and industry in coming years. Although the original purpose of research into starch synthesis was not industrial application, it is an example of how science, while trying to answer fundamental questions, may lead to the manipulation of nature for beneficial purposes. 

Nantes was chosen as the location because of its INRA Research Centre, which is renowned for its basic and applied research on plant biopolymers, starch, proteins and cell wall polysaccharides. The main objectives of the Nantes Centre in Plant Science first of all concerns the biosynthesis of macromolecules and assemblies in planta, secondly their structural characteristics and related physico-chemical and functional properties, and thirdly with their behaviour in multiphasic systems in relation to end-uses in food and non-food applications. In addition, human nutrition is also considered. 

Besides application to the analysis of polysaccharides of unknown structure, enzymes are also often used for routine measurements on polysaccharides of essentially established structure, such as the starch components and the glycogens. Enzymes provide extremely quick and accurate information for the characterization of polysaccharides of this type, including the products synthesized in vitro diuring studies on their mechanism of biosynthesis. There is also increasing application to the characterization of other types of polysaccharide, synthesized enzymically in vitro. A further important use is for investigation of the nature of the products formed by the action of other catabolic enzymes on polysaccharides such applications may give information on either the structure of the polysaccharide or the specificity of the catabolic enzyme under investigation. 

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