Tom Knight, Professor of Biology, is working on engineering greater plant productivity through genetic manipulation of plants.
On the basis of this research, Knight was selected by a screening committee and Provost Mark Lapping to as the first recipient of USM's Trustee Professorship. The University of Maine System Board of Trustees established the Trustee Professorships in July, 1998 to support "outstanding University of Maine System faculty already making noteworthy contributions to academic excellence." The awards "provide release time and support for faculty to undertake research and other scholarly/creative endeavors not feasible within their normal workload."
The honor enables Knight to take time off from teaching for a semester to focus on his research and to undertake the next round of experiments with his research collaborators, at Los Alamos National Laboratory and at New Mexico State University.
Over the past five years, Knight, who holds a Ph.D. in plant physiology from Rutgers University, has studied the regulatory mechanisms of plant carbon-nitrogen interactions. Some of this work was supported by a $125,000 National Science Foundation grant for a study on transferring nitrogen metabolism from the roots to the leaves of oat plants, thereby increasing plant productivity. Nitrogen is the resource that most affects plant productivity. Today's intensive agriculture depends on heavy use of fertilizers to supply adequate nitrogen, but because of the plants' mechanism to balance nitrogen and carbon, adding nitrogen only increases harvest yield up to a certain point. And increasing fertilizer has unwanted, often harmful, effects on the environment as well as being an expensive solution in the Third World.
Knight's research indicates that by genetically manipulating the root and leaf tissue, plants can be enabled to grow better --larger and with more nutrients (amino acids)-- with less nitrogen. This research suggests future applications to address food shortages in the Third World as population increases. And a tree could be harvested in two thirds the time, he predicts.
Knight and his colleagues at Los Alamos, where he worked before coming to USM, and at the Plant Genetics Engineering Laboratory at New Mexico State University, are part of a network of scientists involved in projects to increase food productivity through genetic engineering, called Food for the 21st Century. Knight has two patents pending on aspects of his research.
In addition, his research suggests possible ways to offset the greenhouse effect and global warming. His work on nitrogen-carbon metabolism indicates that it may be possible to prompt plants to store excess atmospheric carbon dioxide in their leaves. The U.S. Department of Energy is closely following Knight's research on this front. As the U.S. and other developed countries shift to lower reliance on nuclear power and renewed emphasis on fossil fuels, it becomes increasingly important to lower build up of atmospheric carbon dioxide, which is believed to cause global warming. By fixing carbon dioxide in plants, the amount of this gas that is held in the atmosphere, blocking heat radiation, can be reduced.
Knight was selected as USM's first Trustees scholar by a committee of peers, chaired by Richard West, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Also serving on the committee were Michael Brady, Philip Jagolinzer, Jan Hitchcock, and Mustafa Guvench.