New technology can improve the efficiency of photosynthesis and increase production.

A research team from the University of Illinois and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory said in the journal Science that a new study shows that by modifying related genes in plants, it can improve plant photosynthesis efficiency, increase plant light capture capacity and biomass production, thereby increasing plant yield.

Plants respond adaptively to different levels of light and shadow. for example, when the sun shines directly at noon, plants dissipate some light energy as heat to protect themselves. This protection mechanism, called "non-photochemical quenching", can be started quickly in the presence of strong sunlight, but the speed at which it "recovers" to its natural state is relatively slow. If it is not closed quickly enough, photosynthesis will not work effectively.

John Hannis Kromidika of the University of Illinois and colleagues speculated that higher crop yields could be achieved if the recovery mechanism of photosynthesis could be manipulated. Taking tobacco as the research object, the team modified three genes involved in the "non-photochemical quenching" process to speed up the shutdown of this mechanism, which means that plants can improve the efficiency of photosynthesis in the shadows more quickly.

Under the condition of stable light, the performance of the improved plant was similar to that of the control group, but when the light fluctuated, the carbon dioxide fixation capacity and photosynthesis of the improved plant increased by 11% and 14%, respectively. The improved plants also have larger leaf area and height, and their total dry weight is 14% more than that of the control plants.

The results of these improved plants growing in greenhouses and the wild are similar, the authors report. The global population's demand for food will increase significantly in the coming decades, a study that makes up for the "shortcomings" in photosynthesis and is expected to lead to better crops. Researchers are carrying out the same genetic modification of rice and other food crops, hoping to achieve similar results in these crops. (reporter Jiang Jing)