The State News
Changcheng Xu, a research assistant professor in biochemistry and molecular biology, works to make a crossbreed of two Arabidopsis plants in a lab Thursday in the Biochemistry Building. Xu said he was working on these specific plants because it is easy to get a mutant plant from them.
Meet Christoph Benning and Changcheng Xu
Department: Biochemistry and molecular biology
Type of research: Studying mutated plants to find ways of increasing oil in a plant’s biological material used for biofuel.
Funding for research: Funding and support was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation and the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station.
Basics of research: Benning explores how lipids, the make-up of a plant cell’s membrane, travel inside the cell to the chloroplast.
A team of researchers searched for mutants that disrupt the plant’s development and lipid movements. They treated plants with a chemical mutagen to help scientists find defects disrupting plant development.
The team discovered 25 different mutants with a type of defect which left the plant pale and unable to sustain itself.
Trigalactosyldiacylglycerol 4, or TGD4, is a protein the team discovered by genetically mapping a mutation in the mutant.
This might allow researchers to produce oil in non-seed tissues of the plant to enhance the oil in plant biomass for biofuel.
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Assistant professor benefits from plant researcher's tutelage
Christoph Benning’s research of plant components used for biofuel and scores of other areas has earned the professor a spot among the field’s elite.
Benning, a professor in the MSU Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, is known internationally for his research, but he said another researcher could soon take on a laboratory role similar to his.
Changcheng Xu, a research assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, works in Benning’s laboratory and has established himself as a resident expert.
“At a university like Michigan State, research is as important as teaching, and to have people like Christoph Benning, who is so successful at research, is critically important for our future,” said Thomas Sharkey, chairman for the department.
Each day, Benning receives applications from students and scientists across the world — all hoping a little something extra on their résumé will set them apart from the competition and secure a laboratory position.
“What happens all the time, people every day — today and yesterday — send me applications to work with me in my laboratory and 99 percent of the time I have to say no,” Benning said.
Xu wasn’t in that 99 percent.
He read Benning’s articles about biosynthesis and the functions of photosynthetic membrane lipids before sending an application to Benning.
Articles Xu produced while studying in China and Korea stood out to Benning, who thought his scientific background would complement ongoing projects in the lab.
“I took a chance and hired him after we talked on the phone,” Benning said. “He turned out to be a very brilliant scientist who discovered a lot of great things.”
The position gave Xu an opportunity to work with one of the leading scientists in his field — using a Arabidopsis flowering plant to study plant lipids.
“I was very excited because I had the opportunity to work on something that I was really interested in in such a famous lab,” Xu said.
Benning began teaching Xu how to map genes soon after arriving at MSU.
Eight years later, Xu has become a “super expert at mapping genes.”
“He’s ready to start his own lab,” Benning said.
Published on Thursday, September 4, 2008
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