'researchers modeled 170 steps to identify how plants could manufacture sugars more efficiently; the team increased crop growth by 27 percent by resolving two constraints:
- the first part of photosynthesis where plants transform light energy into chemical energy and
- the second part where carbon dioxide is fixed into sugars
The team addressed this first bottleneck by helping plastocyanin share the load with the addition of cytochrome c6- Plastocyanin requires copper and cytochrome requires iron to function. Depending on the availability of these nutrients, algae can choose between these two transport proteins.
At the same time, the team has improved a photosynthetic bottleneck in the Calvin-Benson Cycle—wherein carbon dioxide is fixed into sugars—by bulking up the amount of a key enzyme called SBPase, borrowing the additional cellular machinery from another plant species and cyanobacteria.'
- the first part of photosynthesis where plants transform light energy into chemical energy and
- the second part where carbon dioxide is fixed into sugars
The team addressed this first bottleneck by helping plastocyanin share the load with the addition of cytochrome c6- Plastocyanin requires copper and cytochrome requires iron to function. Depending on the availability of these nutrients, algae can choose between these two transport proteins.
At the same time, the team has improved a photosynthetic bottleneck in the Calvin-Benson Cycle—wherein carbon dioxide is fixed into sugars—by bulking up the amount of a key enzyme called SBPase, borrowing the additional cellular machinery from another plant species and cyanobacteria.'