Cornell researchers improve plant productivity and boost carbon sequestration

In New York state, a Cornell researcher and her colleagues have solved one key piece of the molecular puzzle needed to dramatically improve plant productivity and increase carbon sequestration: They have successfully transferred key regions of a highly efficient red algae into a tobacco plant, using bacteria as an intermediary.

The study featured on the cover of Nature Plants centers on Rubisco, the most abundant protein across every ecosystem on Earth. Rubisco performs the first step of photosynthesis by fixing carbon, and it appears in various forms in a wide array of organisms, including plants, red and green algae and bacteria. Rubisco is slow and struggles to differentiate between oxygen and carbon dioxide, a problem Gunn and several other Cornellians are working on. As a result, Rubisco often limits plant growth and crop yield.