Scientists transform cellulose into starch

In Virginia, a team of Virginia Tech researchers has succeeded in transforming cellulose into starch, a process that has the potential to provide a previously untapped nutrient source from plants not traditionally thought of as food crops. The type of starch that Zhang’s team produced is amylose, which acts as a good source of dietary fiber. It has been proven to decrease the risk of obesity and diabetes.

Zhang used a novel process involving cascading enzymes to transform cellulose into amylose starch, taking cellulose from non-food plant material, such as corn stover, and converting about 30% to amylose, and hydrolyzes the remainder to glucose suitable for ethanol production.

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