Chloroplast genome editing of Rubisco boosts photosynthesis and plant growth.
Yamori W, Nakazato I, Qu Y, Sanga Y, Miyata T
Crop Improvement
Every squash vine, bean plant, and basil bunch in your garden runs its food-making engine at a fraction of its potential, bottlenecked by a famously sluggish enzyme — and scientists just found two tiny molecular tweaks that make that engine measurably faster.
Plants turn sunlight and air into food using a protein called Rubisco, but Rubisco is surprisingly slow and inefficient — it's actually the main reason plants don't grow as fast as physics would allow. Researchers changed just two tiny spots in this protein in a lab plant, and the result was faster growth both today and under the higher CO2 levels expected in coming decades. The editing method used doesn't count as GMO under many regulations, which could make it much easier to one day bring this improvement to food crops.
Key Findings
Two amino acid substitutions (M309I and D397N) in the Rubisco large subunit increased the enzyme's catalytic speed without reducing total Rubisco protein levels.
Edited plants showed enhanced photosynthesis and biomass growth at both current atmospheric CO2 (381 μmol mol⁻¹) and projected future concentrations (549 μmol mol⁻¹).
Cryo-electron microscopy revealed the mutations reshape catalytic loop structures despite being located far from the enzyme's active site, suggesting previously unknown long-range structural effects.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists used precise gene editing to improve Rubisco — the notoriously slow enzyme at the heart of plant photosynthesis — by changing just two amino acids, causing the model plant Arabidopsis to grow faster under both today's CO2 levels and those predicted for the future.
Abstract Preview
Photosynthetic inefficiencies limit the productivity and sustainability of crop production and the resilience of agriculture to future societal and environmental challenges. Ribulose-1,5-bisphospha...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Species Mentioned
Was this useful?
Want to tell us more? (optional)
Thanks for the note!
Something went wrong — please try again.
Too many submissions. Try again in an hour.
Chloroplast Genome Editing Eliminates Gluten Immunogenicity in Triticum aestivum
It could mean that people with celiac disease — roughly 1 in 100 worldwide — may one day safely eat bread made from real wheat, without sacrificing the taste...
Arabidopsis thaliana, the thale cress, mouse-ear cress or arabidopsis, is a small plant from the mustard family (Brassicaceae), native to Eurasia and Africa. Commonly found along the shoulders of roads and in disturbed land, it is generally considered a weed.