Sneha Singhal, Jaypee Institute of information technology, Noida
In green plants and some other organisms, sunlight is used for producing nutrients from carbon dioxide and water. Plants generate oxygen through photosynthesis by using the green pigment chlorophyll.
A dynamic process
According to a new model developed by the University of Illinois, photosynthesis is more of a dynamic process than something that happens either or not. Various fluctuations in light caused by intermittent clouds, overlying leaves, and the sun’s daily journey across the sky allowed the group to examine the impacts on the leaves’ health. Nowadays, these fluctuations are the norm among densely planted crops.
Photosynthesis loses up to 40 percent of potential productivity due to decreased efficiency of adaptation to light changes. Genetically modifying crop leaf to respond more quickly would result in substantial productivity gains and improved water-use efficiency. Photosynthesis is how plants produce their food. Plants prepare themselves each morning for receiving nutrients from the sun, which requires time. Many varieties might benefit from a reduction in the preparation time for plants.
Yu Wang, a postdoctoral researcher at Illinois who led this research project, Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE), said plants need time to get used to changes in light. This process takes time and can reduce efficiency. They are working to make the plant’s response to the dynamic light environment faster so that they can limit losses during the transition period. In the RIPE project the goal is to increase global food production through crops that use sunlight to produce food more efficiently with support from Gates, FOAFAR, and the U.K.
The study
According to the RIPE study published in The Plant Journal, by treating photosynthesis as a dynamic process, the researchers were able to allow C4 plants. These plants such as corn fix carbon in C4 molecules in the atmosphere through photosynthesis. They can adapt more rapidly to fluctuations in light. First, they tested their model against measurements of photosynthesis they carried out in corn, sorghum, and sugarcane in fluctuating light. Using the model, the researchers identified the photosynthesis steps that restrict the response of the three crops to variations in light.
According to Stephan Long, 99 percent of studies on what limits photosynthesis have relied on constant lighting-something that a crop leaf at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology can’t experience on the field. Maybe we forgot that if we increase efficiency in fluctuating light, not just under constant light, we can see a lot of results.
Future prospects of increasing productivity:
The research team examined which segments of the photosynthesis process limit the process’s speed by treating the process as dynamic. Modeling and simulation gave rise to the identification of two proteins crucial for the adjustment. To engineer the proteins, the group is partnering with a team from the Department of Energy Center for Advanced Bioproducts & Bioenergy Innovation (CABBI) at Illinois, along with an additional RIPE research team to regulate the two proteins in corn this summer. Long believes this is a great opportunity. “This could help to improve productivity by 10 to 20 percent. Coupled with the year-over-year yield increases achieved by breeding, this would be a dramatic increase in productivity. Of course, time will tell whether we can achieve this.”
Also read: Archaic shell rings: New info revealed by deep learning methods
Reference:
- Wang, Y., Chan, K. X., & Long, S. P. (2021). Towards a dynamic photosynthesis model to guide yield improvement in C4 crops. The Plant Journal, 107(2), 343–359. https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.15365
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Author info:
About me:
Sneha Singhal is currently pursuing B.Tech in Biotechnology from Jaypee institute of information technology, Noida. She has a keen interest in research in bioinformatics and genetics. She aspire to be a researcher in upcoming time.
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sneha-singhal
Publications:
- https://bioxone.in/news/worldnews/dungeons-and-dragons-as-behavioural-therapy/
- https://bioxone.in/news/listeria-threat-to-food-is-now-mapped-out-in-an-atlas/
- https://bioxone.in/news/human-genome-project-applications-in-personalized-medicine/
- https://bioxone.in/news/shionogi-is-in-a-race-against-pfizer-and-merck/
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