Photosynthesis and leaf respiration are key metabolic processes for plant growth and their carbon exchange with the atmosphere are the largest within the global carbon cycle.
Fungal pathogens are the main causative agents of disease in plants. Fusarium oxysporum is a diverse fungal pathogen able to infect a wide plant host range.
The enzyme Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate Carboxylase/Oxygenase (RuBisCO) is responsible for the entry of atmospheric carbon into the biosphere during photosynthesis. Despite this key role, RuBisCO maintains several biochemical shortcomings, making it an attractive target for laboratory protein engineering.
Site-specific C-to-U RNA editing is a hallmark of plant organelle transcript maturation. Up to thousands of specific cytidines are converted into uridines in plant chloroplasts and mitochondria, with no evidence of editing activity in the cytosol.
Photorespiration (PR) is the pathway that detoxifies the product of the oxygenation reaction of Rubisco. It has been hypothesized that in dynamic light environments, PR provides a photoprotective function by serving as a sink for excess ATP and/or reducing equivalents.
The tiny, self-contained genetic system of the chloroplast (or plastid) in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is well suited for genetic engineering and has recently seen a surge in the deployment of synthetic biology approaches.
In my talk, I’d like to introduce two of my postdoctoral studies where I explored the independent expression of two genes in tobacco: Rubisco activase (RCA) and a spider silk gene, Major ampullate spidroin 1 (MaSp1).
In chloroplasts of embryophytes, superwobbling between codons and anticodons has been demonstrated to facilitate translation of the standard genetic code by a minimized set of only 30 tRNAs (Rogalski et al., 2008).
The timing of flowering needs to be tightly controlled to maximize reproductive success. Plants perceive seasonal cues (e.g., day length and temperature) to adjust the timing of flowering.
Nocturnal stomatal conductance (gsn) represents a significant, enigmatic source of water-loss, with implications for whole plant metabolism, thermal regulation and water-use efficiency.
Currently there is little known about the apoplastic transport pathways of C4 grasses and how sugars are exported from the source leaves to the sinks such as stems and seeds.
Rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations could reach >1000 ppm by 2100, increasing global temperatures 3-4 °C. Both elevated CO2 and warming affect photosynthesis, altering plant growth, survival, and crop yield and quality.