Enhancing crop yields through improvements in the efficiency of photosynthesis and respiration
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(Published version)
Date
2023
Authors
Garcia, A.
Gaju, O.
Bowerman, A.F.
Buck, S.A.
Evans, J.R.
Furbank, R.T.
Gilliham, M.
Millar, A.H.
Pogson, B.J.
Reynolds, M.P.
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Journal article
Citation
New Phytologist, 2023; 237(1):60-77
Statement of Responsibility
Andres Garcia, Oorbessy Gaju, Andrew F. Bowerman, Sally A. Buck, John R. Evans, Robert T. Furbank, Matthew Gilliham, A. Harvey Millar, Barry J. Pogson, Matthew P. Reynolds, Yong-Ling Ruan, Nicolas L. Taylor, Stephen D. Tyerman, and Owen K. Atkin
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Abstract
The rate with which crop yields per hectare increase each year is plateauing at the same time that human population growth and other factors increase food demand. Increasing yield potential (Yp) of crops is vital to address these challenges. In this review, we explore a component of Yp that has yet to be optimised – that being improvements in the efficiency with which light energy is converted into biomass (ϵc) via modifications to CO2 fixed per unit quantum of light (α), efficiency of respiratory ATP production (ϵprod) and efficiency of ATP use (ϵuse). For α, targets include changes in photoprotective machinery, ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase kinetics and photorespiratory pathways. There is also potential for ϵprod to be increased via targeted changes to the expression of the alternative oxidase and mitochondrial uncoupling pathways. Similarly, there are possibilities to improve ϵuse via changes to the ATP costs of phloem loading, nutrient uptake, futile cycles and/or protein/membrane turnover. Recently developed high-throughput measurements of respiration can serve as a proxy for the cumulative energy cost of these processes. There are thus exciting opportunities to use our growing knowledge of factors influencing the efficiency of photosynthesis and respiration to create a step-change in yield potential of globally important crops.
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Published online January 2023
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© 2022 The Authors New Phytologist © 2022 New Phytologist Foundation. New Phytologist (2022) 1 www.newphytologist.com This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.