news, journals and articles from all over the world.
A method called quantum ghost imaging (QGI) allow scientists to capture images at extremely low light levels. QGI also enables the use of one color to examine a sample with extremely low light and another color to form the image. The method allows detailed imaging and monitoring without damage to live plants, allowing examination of active plant processes such as photosynthesis.
A team of scientists with two Department of Energy Bioenergy Research Centers — the Center for Bioenergy Innovation, or CBI, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation, or CABBI, at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign — identified a gene in a poplar tree that enhances photosynthesis and can boost tree height by about 30% in the field and by as much as 200% in the greenhouse.
A team from the RIPE project has engineered potato to be more resilient to global warming showing 30% increases in tuber mass under heatwave conditions. This adaptation may provide greater food security for families dependent on potatoes, as these are often the same areas where the changing climate has already affected multiple crop seasons. Their work was recently published in Global Change Biology
A research team has developed a novel method for reconstructing the 3D edges of leaves using advanced deep learning and image processing techniques.
RIPE researchers found that modern soybean plants have increased mesophyll conductance compared to ancestral soybean plants. Their work was recently published in Plant, Cell and Environment.
Plants the world over are absorbing about 31% more carbon dioxide than previously thought, according to a new assessment developed by scientists.
In the ongoing effort to enhance crop efficiency, researchers have uncovered key genetic components of photosynthesis in tomatoes. A new study highlights the PetM domain-containing protein, crucial for the electron transport chain in chloroplasts, and its role in plant growth under different light conditions. By knocking out the PetM gene, scientists observed significant effects on photosynthesis, providing fresh insights into how plants adapt to varying light environments. This discovery could pave the way for improving crop resilience and productivity.
A cutting-edge study has unveiled the sophisticated methods pathogens use to weaken plant defenses. It shows how a pathogen’s effector protein targets the chloroplast protein StFC-II, increasing its levels in chloroplasts and reducing the plant’s ability to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS). This manipulation significantly compromises the plant’s immune response, offering new insights into potential strategies for enhancing plant resistance to infections.
As launch time draws near, PNNL scientists are eager to explore how plants might grow in space, where the effect of gravity is substantially weaker.
A research team investigated 71 citrus accessions and varieties using over 56,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 37 leaf reflectance parameters to study photosynthesis-related traits.
Delving into the nuances of plant nutrition, researchers have discovered that the form of nitrogen intake profoundly affects the efficiency of photosynthesis in plants. This pivotal finding sheds light on how plants process and utilize nitrogen, offering critical insights for enhancing crop productivity and optimizing nitrogen use in agriculture.
A research team has developed a novel method combining computer vision and deep learning to phenotype drought-stressed poplar saplings, achieving 99% accuracy in variety identification and 76% accuracy in stress-level classification.
A RIPE team used CRISPR/Cas9 to increase gene expression in rice by changing its upstream regulatory DNA. Their work is the first unbiased gene-editing approach to increase gene expression and downstream photosynthetic activity and was recently published in Science Advances.
Researchers have engineered mesophyll conductance, which plays a key role in photosynthesis and refers to the ease with which CO2 can move through a leaf’s cells before ultimately becoming sugar to feed the plant. Their results are featured in an upcoming paper in the Plant Biotechnology Journal.
Researchers have engineered mesophyll conductance, which plays a key role in photosynthesis and refers to the ease with which CO2 can move through a leaf’s cells before ultimately becoming sugar to feed the plant. “This is one of the few…
In the field of environmental and climate science, researchers have developed the Comprehensive Mechanistic Light Response (CMLR) gross primary production (GPP) dataset.
Plants harness energy from sunlight and carbon dioxide through a process called photosynthesis which supports the generation of carbohydrates, proteins, and oils that are stored in seeds – like a kernel of corn, a soybean, or a grain of rice.
Researchers at the University of New Hampshire have found that water use efficiency has stalled since 2001 which implies not as much CO2 was being taken in by plants and more water was consumed and that could have implications on carbon cycling, agricultural production and water resources.
In-cell engineering can be a powerful tool for synthesizing functional protein crystals with promising catalytic properties.
Photosynthesis plays a crucial role in shaping and sustaining life on Earth, yet many aspects of the process remain a mystery. One such mystery is how Photosystem II, a protein complex in plants, algae and cyanobacteria, harvests energy from sunlight and uses it to split water, producing the oxygen we breathe. Now researchers from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, together with collaborators from Uppsala University and Humboldt University and other institutions have succeeded in cracking a key secret of Photosystem II.
A team from the University of Illinois has modeled improving photosynthesis through enzyme modification and simulated soybean growth with realistic climate conditions, determining to what extent the improvements in photosynthesis could result in increased yields.
Ensuring the supply of food to the constantly growing world population and protecting the environment at the same time are often conflicting objectives.
Climate change could overexpose rare underwater “marimo” algae balls to sunlight, killing them off according to a new study at the University of Tokyo.
By collecting electrons naturally transported within plant cells, scientists can generate electricity. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces have, for the first time, used a succulent plant to create a living “bio-solar cell” that runs on photosynthesis.
During photosynthesis, a chemical reaction jumpstarted by sunlight breaks down chemicals into the food plants need to repair themselves and to grow. But as researchers attempt to better understand photosynthesis, they have hit a roadblock when it comes to being able to see the fundamental structures and processes in a plant.
UC San Diego scientists have identified a long-sought carbon dioxide sensor in plants, a discovery that holds implications for trees, crops and wildfires. The researchers found that two proteins work together to form the sensor, which is key for water evaporation, photosynthesis and plant growth.
Photosynthesis is one of the most important chemical reactions, not just for plants but also for the entire world.
Michigan State University researchers and colleagues at the University of California Berkeley, the University of South Bohemia and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have helped reveal the most detailed picture to date of important biological “antennae.”
A new study on rubisco, a photosynthetic enzyme thought to be the most abundant protein on the planet, shows that proteins can change their structural arrangement with surprising ease. The findings reveal the possibility that many of the proteins we thought we knew actually exist in other, unknown shapes.
Researchers have developed floating ‘artificial leaves’ that generate clean fuels from sunlight and water, and could eventually operate on a large scale at sea.
Story tips: Drought-resistant crops, hydropower, AI for atomic measurement, controlling refrigerants and recycling e-waste
Every plant, animal or other nucleus-containing cell also harbors an array of miniature “organs” that perform essential functions for the cell.
A Rutgers-led study sheds new light on the evolution of photosynthesis in plants and algae, which could help to improve crop production.
New research from West Virginia University biologists shows that trees around the world are consuming more carbon dioxide than previously reported, making forests even more important in regulating the Earth’s atmosphere and forever shift how we think about climate change.
A nuclear war could trigger an unprecedented El Niño-like warming episode in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, slashing algal populations by 40 percent and likely lowering the fish catch, according to a Rutgers-led study. The research, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, shows that turning to the oceans for food if land-based farming fails after a nuclear war is unlikely to be a successful strategy – at least in the equatorial Pacific.
Postdoctoral scholar Katharyn Duffy led an international team that looked at 20 years of data from throughout the world and found that record-breaking temperates are contributing to a significant decrease in plants’ ability to absorb human-caused carbon emissions.
Red algae have persisted in hot springs and surrounding rocks for about 1 billion years. Now, a Rutgers-led team will investigate why these single-celled extremists have thrived in harsh environments – research that could benefit environmental cleanups and the production of biofuels and other products.
Cornell University scientists have engineered a key plant enzyme and introduced it in Escherichia coli bacteria in order to create an optimal experimental environment for studying how to speed up photosynthesis, a holy grail for improving crop yields.
How much carbon dioxide, a pivotal greenhouse gas behind global warming, is absorbed by plants on land? It’s a deceptively complicated question, so a Rutgers-led group of scientists recommends combining two cutting-edge tools to help answer the crucial climate change-related question.
Recently, scientists have achieved record efficiency for solar-to-fuel conversion, and now they want to incorporate the machinery of photosynthesis to push it further. They present their results today at the American Chemical Society Fall 2020 Virtual Meeting & Expo.
The new discovery unveils the molecular machinery that plants use to weave cellulose chains into cable-like structures called “microfibrils.”
A new Columbia Engineering study demonstrates that even when temperatures warm and cold stress is limited, light is still a major factor in limiting carbon uptake of northern high latitudes. The team analyzed satellite observations, field measurements, and model simulations and showed that there is a prevalent radiation limitation on carbon uptake in northern ecosystems, especially in autumn.
Using a unique combination of nanoscale imaging and chemical analysis, an international team of researchers has revealed a key step in the molecular mechanism behind the water splitting reaction of photosynthesis, a finding that could help inform the design of renewable energy technology.
Researchers zeroed in on a key step in photosynthesis in which a water molecule moves in to bridge manganese and calcium atoms in the catalytic complex that splits water to produce breathable oxygen. What they learned brings them one step closer to obtaining a complete picture of this natural process, which could inform the next generation of artificial photosynthetic systems that produce clean and renewable energy from sunlight and water. Their results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences today.
Algae in the oceans often steal genes from bacteria to gain beneficial attributes, such as the ability to tolerate stressful environments or break down carbohydrates for food, according to a Rutgers co-authored study.
The study of 23 species of brown and golden-brown algae, published in the journal Science Advances, shows for the first time that gene acquisition had a significant impact on the evolution of a massive and ancient group of algae and protists (mostly one-celled organisms including protozoa) that help form the base of oceanic food webs.
A new Columbia Engineering study shows that increased water stress—higher frequency of drought due to higher temperatures, is going to constrain the phenological cycle: in effect, by shutting down photosynthesis, it will generate a lower carbon uptake at the end of the season, thus contributing to increased global warming.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a plan to provide up to $100 million over five years for research on artificial photosynthesis for the production of fuels from sunlight.
Scientists solved a critical part of the mystery of photosynthesis, focusing on the initial, ultrafast events through which photosynthetic proteins capture light and use it to initiate a series of electron transfer reactions.
Think of a train coming down the tracks to a switch point where it could go either to the right or the left — and it always goes to the right. Photosynthetic organisms have a similar switch point. New research from Washington University in St. Louis and Argonne National Laboratory coaxes electrons down the track that they typically don’t travel
You’d think that losing 25 percent of your genes would be a big problem for survival. But not for red algae, including the seaweed used to wrap sushi. An ancestor of red algae lost about a quarter of its genes roughly one billion years ago, but the algae still became dominant in near-shore coastal areas around the world, according to Rutgers University–New Brunswick Professor Debashish Bhattacharya, who co-authored a study in the journal Nature Communications.
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