Findings reveal how a sugar-sensing protein acts as a 'machine' to switch plant growth -- and oil production -- on and off The study focuses specifically on how the molecular machinery is regulated by a molecule that rises and falls with the level of sugar -- plants' main energy source.
The study builds on earlier work by the Brookhaven team that uncovered molecular links between sugar levels and oil production in plants. One potential goal of this research is to identify specific proteins -- and parts of proteins -- scientists can engineer to make plants that produce more oil for use as biofuels or other oil-based products.
"By using multiscale modeling we observed that the protein can exist in multiple conformations but only one of them can effectively bind the sugar proxy," Baer said. When sugar levels are low, and little sugar proxy molecule is present, the loop remains flexible, and the shutdown mechanism can operate to reduce plant growth and oil production. That makes sense to conserve precious resources, Shanklin said."The calculations show how this small molecule blocks the loop from swinging around and prevents it from triggering the shutdown cascade," Blanford said.