Starch - Andreas Blennow Group

Our group focuses on starch  science and technology with focus on starch phosphorylation. The redox state in the plant activates and inhibits enzymes in biosynthesis and degradation. Starch is a very capable energy deposit and we generate designer starch in transgenic plants and molecular models by chemical synthesis to understand how its well-organized packing is compromised by efficient bioavailability. Starch is the major food for most organisms and we investigate the interaction of starch with environmental enzymes to design healthy foods and biomaterials, efficient enzymes and more robust and high yielding starch crops.

 

 

Selected publications

Damager, I., Engelsen, S.B., Blennow, A., Møller, B.L., and Motawia, S.M. (2010) First principles insight into starch-like a-glucans: their synthesis, conformation and hydration. Chem. Rev. 110, 2049-80.

 

Blennow, A. and Engelsen, S.B. (2010) Helix-breaking news: fighting crystalline starch energy deposits in the cell. Trends Plant Sci. in press. doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2010.01.009 |

 

Baunsgaard, L., Mogensen, H.L., Mikkelsen, R.,  Glaring, M.A., Pham, T.T. and Blennow, A. (2005) A Novel Isoform of Glucan Water Dikinase phosphorylates prephosphorylated -glucans and is involved in starch degradation in Arabidopsis. Plant J. 41/4, 595-605.

 

Mikkelsen, R., Mutenda, K., Mant, A., Schürmann, P., and Blennow, A. (2005) a-glucan, water dikinase (GWD): A plastidic enzyme with redox-regulated and coordinated catalytic activity and binding affinity. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 102/5, 1785-1790.