MIT Boosts Photosynthesis Efficiency by 25% – Breakthrough for Food Security
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📰 The quick summary: Scientists at MIT have boosted the efficiency of rubisco, photosynthesis’ key enzyme, by 25% through directed evolution, potentially leading to higher crop yields and more efficient carbon capture for global food security.
📈 One key stat: MIT researchers improved rubisco’s catalytic efficiency by up to 25%, a significant advancement for an enzyme that normally catalyzes only one to 10 reactions per second despite being the most abundant enzyme on Earth.
💬 One key quote: “This is, I think, a compelling demonstration of successful improvement of a rubisco’s enzymatic properties, holding out a lot of hope for engineering other forms of rubisco,” says Matthew Shoulders, the Class of 1942 Professor of Chemistry at MIT.
1️⃣ The big picture: MIT scientists have achieved a breakthrough in photosynthesis by enhancing rubisco, the crucial but notoriously inefficient enzyme that catalyzes the incorporation of carbon dioxide into organic compounds during plant growth. Using a technique called continuous directed evolution, they identified mutations that improved a bacterial rubisco’s efficiency by 25% and made it more resistant to oxygen interference. This advancement tackles a fundamental bottleneck in plant productivity, as rubisco normally works slowly and often wastes energy by reacting with oxygen instead of carbon dioxide. The improved enzyme technology could potentially lead to faster-growing plants that use sunlight more efficiently.
2️⃣ Why is this good news: This advancement provides a path to drastically improve agricultural productivity at a time when global food security faces mounting challenges. Plants currently lose about 30% of captured energy through photorespiration when rubisco incorrectly processes oxygen. The modified enzyme resists this inefficiency, potentially allowing crops to grow faster while using the same amount of resources. Beyond agriculture, more efficient photosynthesis means enhanced carbon capture from the atmosphere, helping combat climate change. The technique itself represents a major improvement over previous methods, demonstrating that directed evolution can solve problems that have frustrated scientists for decades.
3️⃣ What’s next: Researchers plan to apply their continuous directed evolution technique to forms of rubisco found in plants to boost their photosynthesis rates. Their focus will shift toward transferring these laboratory improvements to crop species. The team will also explore how the identified mutations near rubisco’s active site help the enzyme preferentially interact with carbon dioxide over oxygen.
Read the full story here: SciTechDaily – MIT Gave Photosynthesis a Speed Boost – Here’s What That Could Mean for Food and Climate
