Redesigning photosynthesis to sustainably meet global food and bioenergy demand

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 112; no. 28; pp. 8529 - 8536
• Main Authors: Ort, Donald R, Sabeeha S. Merchant, Jean Alric, Alice Barkan, Robert E. Blankenship, Ralph Bock, Roberta Croce, Maureen R. Hanson, Julian M. Hibberd, Stephen P. Long, Thomas A. Moore, James Moroney, Krishna K. Niyogi, Martin A. J. Parry, Pamela P. Peralta-Yahya, Roger C. Prince, Kevin E. Redding, Martin H. Spalding, Klaas J. van Wijk, Wim F. J. Vermaas, Susanne von Caemmerer, Andreas P. M. Weber, Todd O. Yeates, Joshua S. Yuan, Xin Guang Zhu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 14.07.2015; National Acad Sciences
• Subjects: Agricultural production; Biofuels; Biological Sciences; carbon capture/conversion; crop yield; cropland; crops; Crops, Agricultural - physiology; enabling plant biotechnology tools; Environmental protection; environmental sustainability; Food Supply; Globalization; Life Sciences; light capture/conversion; PERSPECTIVE; Photosynthesis; Population growth; smart canopy; Sustainability; sustainable crop production; synthetic biology; light capture/conversion; smart canopy; enabling plant biotechnology tools; sustainable crop production; carbon capture/conversion
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1424031112

The world’s crop productivity is stagnating whereas population growth, rising affluence, and mandates for biofuels put increasing demands on agriculture. Meanwhile, demand for increasing cropland competes with equally crucial global sustainability and environmental protection needs. Addressing this looming agricultural crisis will be one of our greatest scientific challenges in the coming decades, and success will require substantial improvements at many levels. We assert that increasing the efficiency and productivity of photosynthesis in crop plants will be essential if this grand challenge is to be met. Here, we explore an array of prospective redesigns of plant systems at various scales, all aimed at increasing crop yields through improved photosynthetic efficiency and performance. Prospects range from straightforward alterations, already supported by preliminary evidence of feasibility, to substantial redesigns that are currently only conceptual, but that may be enabled by new developments in synthetic biology. Although some proposed redesigns are certain to face obstacles that will require alternate routes, the efforts should lead to new discoveries and technical advances with important impacts on the global problem of crop productivity and bioenergy production.