What their work reveals provides incredible new insight into a complex evolutionary process
- Julian Hibberd
Crops can be divided into two broad categories in terms of the way in which they use photosynthesis to convert sunlight and water into carbohydrates. In C3 plants carbon dioxide is first fixed into a compound containing three carbon atoms while in C4 plants carbon dioxide is initially fixed into a compound containing four carbons atoms.
This seemingly minor variation in photosynthesis makes an important difference: C4 plants are around 50% more efficient than C3 plants, and despite accounting for just 3% of plant species, C4 plants contribute 30% to terrestrial productivity.
The world faces pressure from a growing population, and productive land is increasingly at a premium. One way to improve yields without cultivating more land is to engineer crops to use C4 photosynthesis. To do this, scientists must understand the evolutionary steps that lead from C3 to C4 photosynthesis.
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Image:Rice terraces in the Philippines
Credit: Julian Hibberd
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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