Beaumont, Texas
September 11, 2007
Picture this - IV (intravenous)
lines in a sorghum field.
It's not as far-fetched as it
sounds. It's one way that scientists at the Texas Agricultural
Experiment Station are researching crops that may contribute to
the biofuel revolution.
In Beaumont, Dr. Lee Tarpley, plant physiologist, and College
Station colleague, Dr. Don Vietor, professor of crop physiology,
have focused their research on sweet sorghum.
While sweet sorghum and sugarcane are close relatives, the
researchers have shown that the two species have different ways
of moving and storing sugar. Tracer sucrose is inserted into
growing plants, using a system similar to an IV. Once the
sucrose is inside the plants, the researchers can track the
movement and distribution.
They found that, due to the plant's physiology, sweet sorghum
appears to be more efficient in reusing the stored sugar to
support growth of other parts of the plant. The mechanisms in
sugarcane, however, allow it to accumulate very high levels of
sucrose.
"The differences are critical, and need to be understood for
breeders to develop new varieties specifically for the biofuel
industry," Tarpley said. Sweet sorghum and sugarcane are both
well suited for this purpose.
"While sorghum is an annual and can fit well into a crop
rotation, sugarcane is a suitable perennial for many areas,"
Tarpley said. But to maximize the potential of sweet sorghum as
a biofuel crop, breeders need to understand the physiology of
the plant and not use sugarcane as a model.
"There is a large body of research on sugarcane that was
previously thought to apply equally well to sorghum. Instead, we
need to fully understand how sorghum moves and stores sugar in
order to elevate to the next level in our breeding efforts,"
Tarpley said.
The study results were published in the June 2007 issue of BMC
Plant Biology at
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2229/7/33 |
|
