Starch program sows seeds of profit A joint research team from the ANU and CSIRO has signed a $1.6 million contract with Australia's largest food company to produce new varieties of wheat more suitable for flour mills. The collaboration is part of an ongoing involvement between Goodman Fielder Ltd, the French seed company Groupe Limagrain, and a team of Canberra plant biologists led by Dr Rudi Appels from the CSIRO and Dr Matthew Morell, who recently shifted from the ANU's Research School of Biological Science to the CSIRO Division of Plant Industry. Goodman Fielder is the largest Australian-owned major food company, and owns and operates several prominent subsiduary companies including Uncle Toby's, White Wings and Steggles Chickens. The Canberra research team was approached because of their international expertise in the biology of starch and how to manipulate its production in wheat. Starch grains are made from two different sorts of molecules called amylose and amylopectin, Dr Morell explained. By manipulating the enzymes that make and convert these two different starch components the researchers can control the characteristics of the starch grains grown by the plant. The project has been funded through the Cooperative Research Centre for Plant Science which is based at the ANU. The Federal Government failed to renew funding for the CRC last year, however the group hopes to continue its work with external industry support when their funding runs out in June next year. A proportion of all profits stemming from the research will be returned to the ANU through the CRC for Plant Science.