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Bioengineering: Better Photosynthesis Increases Yields in Food Crops (www.sciencedaily.com)

submitted 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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One of the scientists involved in this achievement started at the ground floor and after 25+ years of research finally pulled of the results to help alleviate world hunger.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

Some plants, most notably Maize, employ a more efficient photosynthesis step called C4 cycle. This allows then to convert significantly more sunlight into chemical energy that most other plants that use the so called C3 cycle.

There are long running efforts to genetically engineer other major food crops like wheat and rice to also use this C4 cycle. But so far this has not worked out.