Scientists have figured out how to adapt plants to rapid climate change and increasing yields, so that
They developed a computational method thatallowed scientists to identify promising candidate enzymes for improved plant photosynthesis. They can be introduced into modern agricultural crops and, ultimately, increase productivity.
The new method was based on the history of evolution.Researchers have predicted the state of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase (RuBisCO) genes 20-30 million years ago, when carbon dioxide levels on Earth were higher than today. Then the RuBisCO enzymes in plants were adapted to such extreme levels.
Ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase is an enzymecatalyzing the addition of carbon dioxide to ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate at the first stage of the Calvin cycle, as well as the oxidation reaction of ribulose bisphosphate at the first stage of the photorespiration process.
In fact, scientists have “revived” an ancient enzyme,to improve it for inclusion in agricultural crops. This will help them adapt to the hot and dry conditions of the future climate as human activity increases the concentration of heat-trapping gas CO₂ in the Earth's atmosphere.
The modern version of RuBisCO “pulls out” carbonfrom CO₂ to create sugars, but does it very slowly. In addition, it sometimes catalyzes a reaction with oxygen in the air and creates a toxic byproduct, wastes energy and makes photosynthesis ineffective.
Now scientists have reconstructed the phylogeny of Rubisco,using Solanaceae plants. “By obtaining multiple [genetic] sequences of Rubisco in existing plants, a phylogenetic tree can be constructed to elucidate which RubisCOs likely existed 20–30 million years ago,” the study authors explain.
Ancient RuBisCO Enzymes Predictedbased on modern Solanaceae plants, showed real prospects in terms of greater efficiency. In the future, scientists will try to replace the genes of the existing RuBisCO enzyme in tobacco (a model plant) with hereditary sequences using CRISPR technology. They will then measure how this affects biomass production.
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