The main research objective Dr.
Marton's laboratory has been the genetic manipulation of plants by cellular
and molecular techniques (http://www.biol.sc.edu/faculty/marton.html).
Phytoremediation/biomass improvement research has become the
major long term commitment of his laboratory. Development of micropropagation/genetic
engineering technologies of environmentally important/potential new crop
plants such as cordgrasses, reed, cattails, rushes, sedges and the giant
reed are in progress (full list of species is available Czako’s link
below). His transgenic plant systems are based on the Agrobacterium
mediated gene transfer technology, that he pioneered to develop and in some
cases different direct gene transfer techniques are also used, such as
chemical, electroporation and DNA gun technologies. For the above monocot
plant transformations Agrobacterium vectors have been constructed for
altering heavy metal processing patterns (sequestration, accumulation) and
for Hg volatilization as well as for enabling plants to
degrade different halogenated organic wastes. The dehalogenation
project is becoming a multi-disciplinary effort which involves the
combination of protein engineering with genetic engineering technologies.
His present interest areas include: physiological aspects of tissue
cultures, expression of transgenes, mechanism/ control of gene
silencing, and epigenetic regulation of gene expression in plants. His long
term research associate is Dr. Mihaly Czako who was instrumental in
development of the above research program (http://www.biol.sc.edu/~marton/Czako.htm).
In the biotechnological applications, such as development of large
scale micropropagation technologies and tissue culture based
molecular breeding of new elit lines his major collaboration partner is the
Southern Sun Biosystems Inc.(http://www.sosun.com/).
Present Graduate students Marcie Eaddy and Jigna Desai. Biomass is a chemically complex and
very heterogeneous renewable resource. Most of the energy potential is
locked in the cell wall’s lignocellulosic fraction, which is the most
abundant material in the world. Lignocellulosic biomass can be utilized as
environment friendly energy source directly (energy pellets, thermal
gasification), indirectly after fermentation (hydrogen, alcohol), as
an alternative to the limited crude oil and other fossil fuels.
Additionally, the biomass energy only recycles CO2 and does not
increase the global CO2 concentration,
therefore it does not contribute to global warming. The increased biomass production by
manipulation of growth and photosynthetic productivity as well as an
improvement of chemical composition of the cell wall for more efficient unlocking of the energy potential
and for the increased suitability for fiber, litter, and for
restoration biology are all amenable to improvement by modern
genetic technology and are important
future objectives of his laboratory.
Laszlo
Marton
Professor of Biological
Sciences American Society of Plant
Physiologists |