Originally published in EPSO News - Issue 4 (December 2007) 
Reprinted with authorization from EPSO News.

The Dutch poet Gerbrand Adriaenz Bredero (1585-1618) said “het kan verkeren”, freely translated as “things can change”. Just a few years ago, plant science in Europe was marginalised and almost engulfed by a powerful wave of ‘science for human health’. In those days, the notion that without plants there would be no life or health at all did not find much ground. Fortunately, things did change.

Strong charismatic voices, such as the one of Nobel laureate Al Gore have helped most of us realise that our planet is at risk and that plant research plays a pivotal role in our attempt to build a sustainable world. As a result, plant sciences are again very much in the picture. But the tasks facing plant scientists are daunting and will require strong commitments from all stakeholders: academia, industry, as well as policy-makers. It is hard to imagine, but in the coming decades 3 billion additional people will have to be fed while using less arable land. In parallel, living standards will continue to rise in many developing countries where consumption of animal products is burgeoning, again requiring a larger input of plant-derived feed. At another level, global warming is likely to change our climate so much that new crops will have to be developed with improved stress and disease
tolerance.

Plants also offer splendid opportunities to supply – partially – our ever-growing energy needs. But we must carefully manage our agricultural systems to provide both sufficient food and large amounts of biomass for the production of energy. In particular, the second generation of bioenergy plants is very promising because it will enable the harnessing of energy previously locked in ligno-cellulosic polymers. EPSO recently published a position paper on ‘Bioenergy and renewable products’ outlining the opportunities offered by plants to address the energy challenge.

Traditionally, food crops were bred for nitrogen-rich high nutritional value end-products (proteins), with limited concerns about inputs. The development of bioenergy crops just goes in the opposite direction. Biofuels are only made of carbon and hydrogen, rendering nitrogenrich proteins superfluous in this context. Therefore, producing high efficiency bioenergy crops relies on minimising the input of fertilisers, water and pesticides and on the optimal utilisation of the plants’ resources to make carbohydrates, while minimising the usage and storage of
nitrogen. We should also explore less studied alternatives for bioenergy production, such as hydrogen formation by unicellular algae and oil synthesis by diatoms.

What is most exciting about these new developments is that all disciplines of plant science must be called upon. Botanists and ecologists will help identify novel bioenergy crops and plant communities for efficient biomass production; plant breeders and agronomists will develop new varieties and sustainable agricultural practices; plant molecular biologists will decipher which processes control biomass production and how the components of the plant cell walls are assembled and can be modified. Last but not least, systems biology will provide the framework to integrate all this knowledge to build a holistic view to optimise plant productivity.

In the past, plant science was often seen as less important when compared with the more medicine-oriented disciplines and we have often witnessed students preferring to study animals rather than plants. However, I feel the ship is turning and the fact that, in the last 12 months, 40 new researchers have joined my department is a testimony to the growing importance of plant sciences. As a plant scientist, I feel very privileged to be able to
contribute to the development of a sustainable world. To reach this goal, it is of utmost importance that EPSO continues to raise awareness of the importance of plant research and to give plant science in Europe its rightful position.

RELATED LINKS:

EPSO: http://www.epsoweb.org/
Department of Plant Systems Biology: http://www.psb.ugent.be/
EPSO News: http://www.epsoweb.org/commun/about%20epso%20news.htm
EPSO position paper on bioenergy and renewable products: http://www.epsoweb.org/commun/Bioenergy_Position_Paper_EN.pdf

Copyright EPSO News
No part of this editorial may be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast
in any form or by any process without prior written permission from EPSO News

December 2007