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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Review article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Review article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Cellular Perspectives for Improving Mesophyll Conductance
AU - Lundgren, Marjorie
AU - Fleming, Andrew J.
PY - 2020/2/29
Y1 - 2020/2/29
N2 - After entering the leaf, CO2 faces an intricate pathway to the site of photosynthetic fixation embedded within the chloroplasts. The efficiency of CO2 flux is hindered by a number of structural and biochemical barriers which, together, define the ease of flow of the gas within the leaf, termed mesophyll conductance. Previous authors have identified the key elements of this pathway, raising the prospect of engineering the system to improve CO2 flux and, thus, to increase leaf photosynthetic efficiency. In this review, we provide a perspective on the potential for improving the individual elements that contribute to this complex parameter. We lay particular emphasis on generation of the cellular architecture of the leaf which sets the initial boundaries of a number of mesophyll conductance parameters, incorporating an overview of the molecular transport processes which have been proposed as major facilitators of CO2 flux across structural boundaries along the pathway. The review highlights the research areas where future effort might be invested to increase our fundamental understanding of mesophyll conductance and leaf function and, consequently, to enable translation of these findings to improve the efficiency of crop photosynthesis.
AB - After entering the leaf, CO2 faces an intricate pathway to the site of photosynthetic fixation embedded within the chloroplasts. The efficiency of CO2 flux is hindered by a number of structural and biochemical barriers which, together, define the ease of flow of the gas within the leaf, termed mesophyll conductance. Previous authors have identified the key elements of this pathway, raising the prospect of engineering the system to improve CO2 flux and, thus, to increase leaf photosynthetic efficiency. In this review, we provide a perspective on the potential for improving the individual elements that contribute to this complex parameter. We lay particular emphasis on generation of the cellular architecture of the leaf which sets the initial boundaries of a number of mesophyll conductance parameters, incorporating an overview of the molecular transport processes which have been proposed as major facilitators of CO2 flux across structural boundaries along the pathway. The review highlights the research areas where future effort might be invested to increase our fundamental understanding of mesophyll conductance and leaf function and, consequently, to enable translation of these findings to improve the efficiency of crop photosynthesis.
KW - cell division
KW - cell growth
KW - cell wall
KW - leaf
KW - CO2 transport
KW - mesophyll conductance
U2 - 10.1111/tpj.14656
DO - 10.1111/tpj.14656
M3 - Review article
VL - 101
SP - 845
EP - 857
JO - The Plant Journal
JF - The Plant Journal
SN - 0960-7412
IS - 4
ER -