Molecular Identification of Porin Channels in Plant Peroxisomes by Electrophysiological Analyses

Plant biomass production needs to increase world-wide to feed the growing world population and to meet the demands for cellulose-based biofuels. However, plant photosynthesis is inefficient because it is accompanied by photorespiration, which releases up to 30% of fixed carbon as CO2 in higher plants. The German research consortium, PROMICS, has been founded in 2009 to study and improve plant photorespiration. Our Norwegian research group is tighly associated with PROMICS. The Ph.D. thesis by Pradeep Soni , which started in October 2009, is an integral part of the consortium's research and focuses on the identification of porin channels that allow the passage of photorespiratory intermediates in and out of peroxisomes. Peroxisomes are a major cell organell e involved in photorespiration. We have identified two candidate proteins in the model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, both of which are presently heterologously expressed and purified in the yeast, Pichia pastoris. The subsequent experiments require electro physiological instrumentation (ca. 300,000 NOK) that is not yet available in Stavanger. We therefore request funding for the Ph.D. student for two 4-week research visits each in 2011 and 2012 in the laboratory of our long-standing collaborator, Prof. Rola nd Benz (Universities of Wuerzburg and Bremen, Germany) to carry out the electrophysiological analyses.