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Adarine Rayfield
Mr. Hill
Chemistry, Period 2
25 March 2015
Speeding Up Photosynthesis
Scientists have genetically engineered a tobacco plant with enzymes from blue-green
algae that would increase the speed of the plants photosynthesis. They have discovered that the
Rubisco (Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase oxygenase)in cyanobacteria (a phylum of
bacteria that obtain their energy through photosynthesis) fixes carbon faster, but it is more
reactive with oxygen. As a result, in cyanobacteria, Rubisco is protected in special microcompartments (called carboxysomes) that keep oxygen out and concentrate carbon dioxide for
efficient photosynthesis. Basically, this means that scientists have found a way to speed up
photosynthesis, making it faster and easier to grow crops.
This process was discovered by Myat T. Lin and Alessandro Occhialini, two scientists
from the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
Myat T. Lin designed and generated the DNA constructs and the transgenic tobacco lines. A.O.
Alessandro Occhialini carried out the TEM imaging, protein analyses and Rubisco activity
assays. Maureen Hanson, John Andralojc and Martin Parry (scientists from Rothamsted
Research, Harpenden, UK) supervised the project. They discovered this from trying out an
experiment to find a way to speed up photosynthesis in plants using tobacco as a test subject, and
ultimately succeeded. The project was concluded in September of 2014.
This discovery has amazing potential for changing the amount of time we spend growing
plants for food, and other resources. Since the world has an ever growing population, its obvious

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why we would need ways to speed up the process of growing food. This could also reduce
fertilizer needs and help free up space used for farming since the output would be much quicker.
Heidi Ledford for Nature magazine writes, that tinkering with Rubisco and ways to boost the
concentration of carbon dioxide around it could generate up to a 60 percent increase in the yields
of crops such as rice and wheat, Usually when people bring up solving world hunger it seems
impossible, its a term literally used as an exaggeration. But, because of this process, this
impossible goal could be reached very soon, not to mention this discovery can also be used to
help grow countless other needed materials in the world.
One drawback to this is that scientists hadnt discovered a way to speed up the process
sooner, and that were only now starting to experiment with it. Another is that introducing new
enzymes into a new species could result in vulnerability in the plants that it is helping produce.
Since its also a very new process, we have no idea how this could affect plants evolving. The
only way to work past these setbacks is to experiment with it more until we can perfect it.

Myatt, Lynn. "A Faster Rubisco with Potential to Increase Photosynthesis in

Crops."Http://www.nature.com/. 17 Sept. 2014. Web.
<http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v513/n7519/full/nature13776.html>.

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Scuiletti, Justin. "Scientists Look to Increase Crop Production by Speeding up Photosynthesis."
dcxxxxx66tttt553Pbs.org. 22 Sept. 2014. Web.
<http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/increasing-food-production/>.

Macdonald, Fiona. "Scientists Look to Increase Crop Production by Speeding up

Photosynthesis." Richarddawkins.net. 22 Sept. 2014. Web. <Scientists have hacked
photosynthesis, and it could help them speed up food production>.