Photosynthesis and plant energy biology

The capture of CO2 by photosynthesis using sunlight is fundamental to the maintenance of life on earth. At the Research School of Biology, we study the energy metabolism of plants, algae and cyanobacteria, including the functioning of light capture, CO2 fixation and the interactions with respiration processes and how these determine growth and productivity of agricultural and natural ecosystems.

Project Groups
A synthetic biology approach to supercharging plant CO2 fixation
Abiotic stress signalling, developmental programming and plant adaptation
Can plants adapt their CO2-fixation capacity in response to climate change?
Carotenoid derivatives as chloroplast signals
Characterization of low and high CO2 sensitive Arabidopsis photosynthetic mutants
Characterization of low CO2 sensitive Arabidopsis photosynthetic mutants
Chemical mechanism of Rubisco catalysis
CO2 acquisition by cyanobacteria and plants, and impact of climate change
CO2 diffusion inside leaves
Dissecting Rubisco catalysis in C3 and C4 plants
Dynamic architecture of plant thylakoid membranes between light and dark
Electron transport and ATP synthesis in chloroplasts
Enhancing carotenoid levels in cereals by esterification
Entropy as a novel determinant of photosynthetic structure and function
Environmental effects on photosynthesis of species with the C3-C4 intermediate photosynthetic pathway
Examining Rubisco - Rubisco activase interactions.
Exploring the evolutionary protein landscape of Rubisco
Expression of modified tobacco and foreign Rubiscos in tobacco chloroplasts
Genome wide association mapping
Genotypic variation in Rubisco between diverse wheats
Improving C4 photosynthesis by genetic manipulation
Improving drought tolerance in wheat by selectively inhibiting negative regulators of drought stress signalling
Improving nitrogen use efficiency in cereals
Investigating the genetic architecture of thermal acclimation of leaf energy metabolism using GWAS
Investigating the interactions between respiration and photosynthesis in leaf photosynthetic function
Investigating transcriptional and postranslational regulation of aquaporins
Isotope effects and natural isotope abundance
Leaf respiration under drought
Linking intracellular communication to whole-plant stress responses
Manipulating CO2 transport with aquaporins to improve photosynthesis
Metabolic determinants of seed quality
Molecular biofuels
Out of the darkness: predicting rates of respiration of illuminated leaves along nutrient gradients
Overcoming limitations in engineering the Rubisco small subunits in higher plant chloroplasts.
Pathways of photosynthetic electron flow under environmental stress
Photoprotection and photoinactivation of Photosystem II
Photoprotective functions of xanthophyll pigments in avocado
Photosynthesis, food security and global change
Physics of pan evaporation
Physiological and molecular regulation of stomatal movement
Redefining metabolic schemes in plant respiration
Scrutinizing the influence of temperature on Rubisco catalysis
Student opportunities in molecular analysis of CO2 acquisition by cyanobacteria
Student projects - additional topics for the future
Student projects in thylakoid function and structure
Student research projects in CO2 fixation and water loss of leaves
Studies on the biochemical regulation of C3 and C4 photosynthesis
The directed evolution of RuBisCO
The impact of transposon variation on the evolvability of grasses
The role of N-terminal post-translational modifications of the tobacco Rubisco large subunit
Understanding chloroplast/nuclear signaling and response pathways which determine photosynthetic capacity
Understanding the cellular and genetic basis of differences in photosynthetic leaf capacity between Arabidopsis and a close mustard relative Hirschfeldia incana
Unravelling novel Rubisco structures in algae
Why is Rubisco from red algae better at CO2-fixation than Rubisco from crop plants?

Stories »

Back to the future: new study could lead to bumper crops »
Research to turbocharge rice given major funding boost »