The researchers explained that they estimate that to feed 9 billion people by 2050, farmers will need
For example, blue-green algae photosynthesizemore efficiently than most crops, which is why researchers are working to introduce elements from cyanobacteria into crops.
In a new study from Cornell UniversityScientists have made significant improvements in photosynthesis. In photosynthesis, plants convert carbon dioxide, water and light into oxygen and sucrose, a sugar used to generate energy and build new tissue. During this process, the enzyme Rubisco (ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase), found in all plants, takes inorganic carbon from the air and converts it into an organic form that the plant uses to build tissue.
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One of the obstacles to improving photosynthesis incrops is that Rubisco reacts with both carbon dioxide and oxygen; the latter reaction creates toxic byproducts, slows down photosynthesis and thus reduces yields.
Therefore, scientists removed the carbonic anhydrase,an enzyme of natural origin, from chloroplasts - organelles of plant cells in which photosynthesis takes place. This is because the role of anhydrase is to create equilibrium between CO2 and bicarbonate in plant cells, catalyzing reactions in which CO2 and water form bicarbonate and vice versa. But for the mechanism of carbon concentration from cyanobacteria to work in agricultural crops, bicarbonate in the system must reach a level many times higher than the equilibrium level.
When they placed the plants in a high oxygen chamber, they improved their growth several times.
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