Tag: Photosynthesis

“Cysteine (HO2CCH(NH2)CH2SH) synthesis is the converging point of the three major pathways of primary metabolism: carbon, nitrate, and sulfate assimilation.” It’s hard enough to coordinate two pathways, let alone three; but these metabolic connections are revealed in that a deficiency in one nutrient…

Roth et al. investigate how a green alga turns photosynthesis off and on when glucose is added and then removed from the culture medium. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00742 By Melissa Roth and Krishna Niyogi, University of California-Berkeley Background: Photosynthesis is the life-sustaining…

Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) is a carbon fixation pathway that reduces photorespiration and increases water use efficiency, enabling CAM plants to survive in inhospitable environments. The evolution of CAM on 35 independent occasions across angiosperms makes it a notable case study of convergent…

Hai Wang et al. identify a regulator of stomatal movement and photosynthesis. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00736 By Hai Wang, Biotechnology Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Background: Fixation of atmospheric CO2 through photosynthesis is crucial for the…

“Earth is a cold place with 80% of its biosphere permanently below 5°C,” begins this study of an Antarctic psychrophile (“cold-lover”). As Szyszka-Mroz et al. indicate, the permanently cold-adapted inhabitants of permanently frozen lakes are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change,…

With the need to feed the growing population and the threat of global climate change, there is an imminent need to increase crop yields. One commonly accepted method of accomplishing this is by enhancing the photosynthetic capability of major crop plants, which may result in an increased yield. A recent…

Plants often optimize their development according to the prevailing environmental conditions, of which light is one of the most important. Arabidopsis uses a PSI-PSII megacomplex as the photosystem reaction center, to transfer the excessive energy from PSII to PSI rapidly. Recently, Yokono et al. proposed…

Calzadilla et al. investigate the mechanism underlying state transitions in cyanobacteria. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.18.00159 By Pablo I. Calzadilla and Diana Kirilovsky, Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell, CEA, CNRS, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif sur…