PRESS: 2024

A red headed woman on the left and a man in a hat on the right work in a field with brown dirt.

Mesophyll conductance doubles in soybean domestication, providing opportunity to be enhanced through selective breeding

RIPE researchers found that modern soybean plants have increased mesophyll conductance compared to ancestral soybean plants. Their work was recently published in Plant, Cell and Environment.

A diagram showing three levels of ePhotosynthesis from metabolic kinetics, to leaf-level to canopy microclimate and growth and the importance of modeling each factor in these three steps.

RIPE team models connection between enzyme activity and yields for the first time

A team from the University of Illinois has developed a modeling framework connecting enzyme activity related to photosynthesis to yield. This is the first time a model has tied the dynamic photosynthetic pathways directly to crop growth.

The predicted molecular structure of the mutant form of BCT1 the researchers evolved for function in plants. Each color represents a subunit of the four-component pumping system. The mutant form has fused the blue-colored subunits and enabled the pump to work without the need to switch it 'on’. Figure generated by Loraine Rourke, ANU.

Scientists Engineer CO2-Boosting Protein to Supercharge Plant Photosynthesis

RIPE scientists have introduced a specialized protein complex into the chloroplasts of plants to deliver more carbon dioxide to the enzyme responsible for carbon fixation during photosynthesis. Their work was recently published in the Journal of Experimental Botany.

A zoomed in picture of a green stalk of rice.

Changes Upstream: RIPE team uses CRISPR/Cas9 to alter photosynthesis for the first time

A RIPE team used CRISPR/Cas9 to increase gene expression in rice by changing its upstream regulatory DNA. Their work is the first unbiased gene-editing approach to increase gene expression and downstream photosynthetic activity and was recently published in Science Advances.

A man and a woman smile at the camera while standing among rows of young, green plants.

Engineered increase in mesophyll conductance improves photosynthetic efficiency in field trial

It is possible to engineer increased mesophyll conductance in plants according to new RIPE research! Scientists in the Long Lab at the University of Illinois found that by increasing porosity and decreasing the cell wall thickness they could increase CO2 diffusion and uptake in a model crop. Their work was published today in Plant Biotechnology Journal.

Young Cho kneels surrounded by plants in a field trial

Researchers improve seed nitrogen content by reducing plant chlorophyll levels

Chlorophyll plays a pivotal role in photosynthesis, but it uses a lot of a plant's resources. RIPE researchers wondered if they reduced a plant's chlorophyll levels, if the plant would invest those resources in other areas, potentially improving nutritional quality or yield. Their findings were recently published in the Plant, Cell & Environment journal.