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SUMMARY:How plants survive the night - Alison M. Smith\, JIC
DTSTART:20120209T160000Z
DTEND:20120209T170000Z
UID:TALK31557@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Jill Harrison
DESCRIPTION:Although plants make sugars from atmospheric carbon dioxide in
  the process of photosynthesis\, they face problems of carbohydrate supply
  on a daily basis. Plants can photosynthesise only during the day - every 
 night all of the cells of the plant become dependent upon the mobilisation
  of carbohydrate (in the form of starch) synthesised and stored during the
  day. Mutant plants that cannot synthesise starch during the day or cannot
  degrade it at night usually have reduced growth rates. My lab is trying t
 o understand the diurnal control of starch storage and mobilisation in lea
 ves of the model plant Arabidopsis\, using forward and reverse genetic app
 roaches. I will present our progress in defining the surprisingly complex 
 pathway of starch degradation at night\, and discuss how flux through this
  pathway is controlled to ensure that supplies of carbohydrate last until 
 dawn. Our recent work shows that the circadian clock plays a central role 
 in controlling carbohydrate availability at night\, and this in turn deter
 mines the overall productivity of the plant.
LOCATION:Sainsbury Laboratory\, Cambridge University\, Bateman Street
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