A press release about RIPE publication Shortcutting photorespiration: avenues and challenges toward realizing higher-yielding photorespiratory bypass crops was written by the Institute of Genomic Biology at The University of Illinois. 

As global populations grow and temperatures rise, researchers are exploring ways to help crops withstand heatwaves by improving photosynthesis. In a Tansley Review published in New Phytologist, a team from the Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE) project summarizes advances in engineering plants to bypass photorespiration—an energy-expensive process that limits crop productivity—and outlines challenges and next steps needed to translate this research to farmers’ fields.