海角社区

Re-engineering Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis is the main driver of all life on our planet, but it can be a glitchy process. That鈥檚 what 海角社区 scientist James Moroney and colleague Paul South are trying to solve. Rubisco is an ancient and abundant enzyme that creates organic matter during photosynthesis, but it occasionally grabs oxygen instead of the carbon dioxide it should. To fix this problem, South engineered a recycling shortcut, so plants can continue to photosynthesize and grow. And grow they did鈥攁lmost 40% bigger. The goal of South鈥檚 and Moroney鈥檚 work of making photosynthesis more efficient is to help feed Earth鈥檚 growing population.

鈥淧hotosynthesis is the most important biochemical pathway on the planet,鈥� South said. 鈥淓very carbon molecule in your body probably passed through photosynthesis at some point. It鈥檚 the primary source through which we can use energy from the sun to make food for everything else. Talking about food security or insecurity, I鈥檝e heard the comment鈥攚hy not study cancer or heart disease or something like that to help save lives instead? My off-the-cuff reply tends to be that if we don鈥檛 have photosynthesis, we don鈥檛 have food, and without food we won鈥檛 live long enough to get cancer or heart disease, so we should probably start with the basics.鈥�

鈥淲e fund the work of the RIPE team, including Dr. Moroney and Dr. South, because of the long-term potential of this research to transform the lives of millions of smallholder farmers who depend on agriculture to feed their families and earn an income.鈥�

- Kathy Kahn, Senior Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation