Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > Adapting C 4 photosynthesis to atmospheric chan...

Research

Links

Text available via DOI:

Keywords

View graph of relations

Adapting C 4 photosynthesis to atmospheric change and increasing productivity by elevating Rubisco content in sorghum and sugarcane

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Published

Standard

Adapting C 4 photosynthesis to atmospheric change and increasing productivity by elevating Rubisco content in sorghum and sugarcane. / Salesse-Smith, Coralie E.; Adar, Noga; Kannan, Baskaran et al.
In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 122, No. 8, e2419943122, 25.02.2025.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Harvard

Salesse-Smith, CE, Adar, N, Kannan, B, Nguyen, T, Wei, W, Guo, M, Ge, Z, Altpeter, F, Clemente, TE & Long, SP 2025, 'Adapting C 4 photosynthesis to atmospheric change and increasing productivity by elevating Rubisco content in sorghum and sugarcane', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 122, no. 8, e2419943122. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2419943122

APA

Salesse-Smith, C. E., Adar, N., Kannan, B., Nguyen, T., Wei, W., Guo, M., Ge, Z., Altpeter, F., Clemente, T. E., & Long, S. P. (2025). Adapting C 4 photosynthesis to atmospheric change and increasing productivity by elevating Rubisco content in sorghum and sugarcane. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 122(8), Article e2419943122. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2419943122

Vancouver

Salesse-Smith CE, Adar N, Kannan B, Nguyen T, Wei W, Guo M et al. Adapting C 4 photosynthesis to atmospheric change and increasing productivity by elevating Rubisco content in sorghum and sugarcane. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2025 Feb 25;122(8):e2419943122. Epub 2025 Feb 11. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2419943122

Author

Salesse-Smith, Coralie E. ; Adar, Noga ; Kannan, Baskaran et al. / Adapting C 4 photosynthesis to atmospheric change and increasing productivity by elevating Rubisco content in sorghum and sugarcane. In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2025 ; Vol. 122, No. 8.

Bibtex

@article{fe4482ac18d241b8b4eef203ee9cf5a5,
title = "Adapting C 4 photosynthesis to atmospheric change and increasing productivity by elevating Rubisco content in sorghum and sugarcane",
abstract = "Meta-analyses and theory show that with rising atmospheric [CO2], Rubisco has become the greatest limitation to light-saturated leaf CO2 assimilation rates (Asat) in C4 crops. So would transgenically increasing Rubisco increase Asat and result in increased productivity in the field? Here, we successfully overexpressed the Rubisco small subunit (RbcS) with Rubisco accumulation factor 1 (Raf1) in both sorghum and sugarcane, resulting in significant increases in Rubisco content of 13 to 25% and up to 90% respectively. Asat increased 12 to 15% and Rubisco enzyme activity ~40% in three independent transgenic events of both species. Sorghum plants also showed increased speeds of photosynthetic induction and decreased bundle sheath leakiness. These improvements translated into average increases of 15.5% in biomass in field-grown sorghum and a 37 to 81% increase in greenhouse-grown sugarcane. This suggests a potential opportunity to achieve substantial increases in productivity of this key economically important clade of C4 crops, future proofing their value under global atmospheric change.",
keywords = "Rubisco, future-proofing agriculture, sorghum and sugarcane, atmospheric change, C4 photosynthesis",
author = "Salesse-Smith, {Coralie E.} and Noga Adar and Baskaran Kannan and Thaibinhduong Nguyen and Wei Wei and Ming Guo and Zhengxiang Ge and Fredy Altpeter and Clemente, {Tom E.} and Long, {Stephen P.}",
year = "2025",
month = feb,
day = "25",
doi = "10.1073/pnas.2419943122",
language = "English",
volume = "122",
journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America",
issn = "0027-8424",
publisher = "National Academy of Sciences",
number = "8",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Adapting C 4 photosynthesis to atmospheric change and increasing productivity by elevating Rubisco content in sorghum and sugarcane

AU - Salesse-Smith, Coralie E.

AU - Adar, Noga

AU - Kannan, Baskaran

AU - Nguyen, Thaibinhduong

AU - Wei, Wei

AU - Guo, Ming

AU - Ge, Zhengxiang

AU - Altpeter, Fredy

AU - Clemente, Tom E.

AU - Long, Stephen P.

PY - 2025/2/25

Y1 - 2025/2/25

N2 - Meta-analyses and theory show that with rising atmospheric [CO2], Rubisco has become the greatest limitation to light-saturated leaf CO2 assimilation rates (Asat) in C4 crops. So would transgenically increasing Rubisco increase Asat and result in increased productivity in the field? Here, we successfully overexpressed the Rubisco small subunit (RbcS) with Rubisco accumulation factor 1 (Raf1) in both sorghum and sugarcane, resulting in significant increases in Rubisco content of 13 to 25% and up to 90% respectively. Asat increased 12 to 15% and Rubisco enzyme activity ~40% in three independent transgenic events of both species. Sorghum plants also showed increased speeds of photosynthetic induction and decreased bundle sheath leakiness. These improvements translated into average increases of 15.5% in biomass in field-grown sorghum and a 37 to 81% increase in greenhouse-grown sugarcane. This suggests a potential opportunity to achieve substantial increases in productivity of this key economically important clade of C4 crops, future proofing their value under global atmospheric change.

AB - Meta-analyses and theory show that with rising atmospheric [CO2], Rubisco has become the greatest limitation to light-saturated leaf CO2 assimilation rates (Asat) in C4 crops. So would transgenically increasing Rubisco increase Asat and result in increased productivity in the field? Here, we successfully overexpressed the Rubisco small subunit (RbcS) with Rubisco accumulation factor 1 (Raf1) in both sorghum and sugarcane, resulting in significant increases in Rubisco content of 13 to 25% and up to 90% respectively. Asat increased 12 to 15% and Rubisco enzyme activity ~40% in three independent transgenic events of both species. Sorghum plants also showed increased speeds of photosynthetic induction and decreased bundle sheath leakiness. These improvements translated into average increases of 15.5% in biomass in field-grown sorghum and a 37 to 81% increase in greenhouse-grown sugarcane. This suggests a potential opportunity to achieve substantial increases in productivity of this key economically important clade of C4 crops, future proofing their value under global atmospheric change.

KW - Rubisco

KW - future-proofing agriculture

KW - sorghum and sugarcane

KW - atmospheric change

KW - C4 photosynthesis

U2 - 10.1073/pnas.2419943122

DO - 10.1073/pnas.2419943122

M3 - Journal article

VL - 122

JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

SN - 0027-8424

IS - 8

M1 - e2419943122

ER -