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Evolutionary innovation hints at ways to engineer efficient photosynthesis in crops

By comparing related plants, researchers have identified a cause of a switch in gene expression that enabled a more efficient form of photosynthesis to evolve — paving the way for engineering crops that are more productive.
By
  1. Monalisha Rath

    1. Monalisha Rath is in the Department of Biology, Stanford University, and at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford, California 94305, USA.

  2. Dominique Bergmann

    1. Dominique Bergmann is in the Department of Biology, Stanford University, and at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford, California 94305, USA.

Photosynthesis, which uses energy from the Sun and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to create carbohydrates, might be the most influential set of biochemical reactions on the planet. Humans, like nearly all living things, are fuelled by the products of photosynthesis. However, the central enzyme of the process can engage in non-productive reactions in hot and dry climates, which poses a problem for crop growing as global temperatures increase. Writing in Nature, Swift et al.1 create comprehensive maps of where photosynthesis genes are turned on and off in the leaves of rice (Oryza sativa) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), a plant that bypasses the problem of inefficiency by using an alternative mode of photosynthesis. Differences in these maps enabled the authors to decipher codes that might pave the way for engineering this alternative, and efficient, version of photosynthesis in rice.

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Nature 636, 53-54 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-03553-5

References

  1. Swift, J. et al. Nature 636, 143–150 (2024).

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  3. Mendieta, J. P. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 121, e2402781121 (2024).

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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