New faculty seeks to improve starch production
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| Guru Rao is doing fundamental research on a receptor kinase. |
Corn kernels are like little lunch bags filled with a starchy endosperm and covered with cell layers called the aleurone and pericarp. Filling those lunch bags with starch is of vital importance to agriculture because the starch feeds our animals and our ethanol industry.
Figuring out how the endosperm develops and produces starch, said Guru Rao, requires a fundamental understanding of how plant proteins regulate the process of cell differentiation.
Rao, who arrived at Iowa State this fall as a new faculty member in the biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology department, is looking at one protein in particular—a receptor kinase that regulates the formation of aleurone cells and influences endosperm development.
"All we know is what the protein looks like," said Rao. "I'm trying to bring in the biochemistry aspect to describe how this protein behaves."
Prior to coming to Iowa State, Rao was a senior research scientist at Pioneer Hi-Bred International for 17 years, where he designed proteins to improve the nutritional quality of grains. He has received 18 patents on various aspects of improvement.
Along with his new faculty position in the department, Rao will be in charge of the Plant Sciences Institute's Proteomics Facility.
