Category: Plant Science Research Weekly

Introduction of the cyanobacterial carboxysome into C3 crops represents a viable strategy to increase photosynthetic conversion efficiency and boost crop yield.  Key to this challenge is gaining a full understanding of the carboxysome system in cyanobacteria, including how these microcompartments assemble…

Stomata represent the entry point into the leaf for CO2 that will be fixed by rubisco in photosynthesis and the exit point of water as it is lost to the atmosphere.  As such, they are subject to tight regulation in response to the environment so that water loss is minimised and a supply of CO2 is…

The speed at which photosynthesis is induced during shade-sun transitions, such as sun-flecks, contributes towards determining crop yield.  The speed of induction can be limited by the dynamics of stomatal and mesophyll conductance, deactivation rates of photoprotective mechanisms, the acclimation rate…

Modern crop production is intimately linked to the availability of nitrogen.  Photosynthetic proteins (including rubisco) account for most of the nitrogen in leaves, a significant amount of which is removed during harvesting and must be replenished primarily through the application of synthetic nitrogen…

It has been over seventy years since Melvin Calvin and Andrew Benson first started on their journey to discovering the Calvin-Benson cycle – the series of biochemical reactions in which the Sun’s energy is converted to chemical energy stored inside the cells of plants, cyanobacteria and algae. …

Real-time tracking is a hugely powerful way to understand the behaviour of single proteins. Cui et al. review the methods and applications of single-particle tracking (SPT) in plant cells. They describe the applications of variable-angle total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (VA-TIRFM) to…

Carboxysomes are protein-bound microcompartments of cyanobacteria that sequester Rubisco and carbonic anhydrase (which converts bicarbonate to carbon dioxide), thus enhancing Rubisco’s carboxylation efficiency. The carboxysome shell is made up of hexamer, pentamer and trimer modules, with selectively…

Aphids are major vectors for viral spread. Guo et al. have identified an interesting interaction that affects aphid feeding behavior and viral spread. They showed that reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation in plants infected with cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) affects aphid feeding behavior; specifically,…