Inst. für Pflanzenwissenschaften, Gruppe Pflanzenbiochemie, ETH Zürich
Our research team studies the pathways and regulation of plant metabolism. The defining characteristic of plants is their ability to photosynthesise and thereby assimilate carbon dioxide into an organic form. The primary products of photosynthesis are sucrose, the sugar which is transported to the non-photosynthetic and growing parts of the plant, and starch, a storage carbohydrate. During the night, when photosynthesis is not possible, plants rely on their stored starch to continue their growth and development. Our research projects focus on the way in which plants make and degrade their starch using a combination of molecular, genetic and biochemical approaches. We use the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, as our experimental system, allowing us to exploit the complete genome sequence and the array of post-genomic facilities.