Simultaneous stimulation of RuBP regeneration and electron transport increases productivity and water use efficiency under field conditions

Abstract

One sentence summary: Simultaneous stimulation of RuBP regeneration and electron transport results in improvements in biomass yield in glasshouse and field grown tobacco.

The role of photosynthesis related pigments in light harvesting, photoprotection and enhancement of photosynthetic yield in planta

“…Apart from their protective role, carotenoids also act as key regulatory molecules in both photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic organisms (Blankenship 2010). For example, carotenoids are cleaved by enzymes such as CCDs (carotenoid cleavage dioxygenases) and NCED's (9-cis-epoxy carotenoid dioxygenases) and the products act as precursors for the generation of vital primary and secondary metabolites, including the phytohormones abscisic acid (Parry et al 1990;Qin and Zeevaart 1999;Tan et al 2003;Simkin 2021) and strigolactones (Booker et al 2004;Lopez-Obando et al 2015;Schwartz et al 2004;Snowden et al 2005;Vogel et al 2010) as well as important flavours and aroma compounds, in fruit pericarp, flowers and seeds (Auldridge et al 2006a(Auldridge et al , 2006bGiberti et al 2019;Rubio et al 2008;Schwartz et al 2001;Simkin et al 2010Simkin et al , 2004cSimkin et al , 2004b. These carotenoidderived flavour and aroma compounds are valuable products in foods, flowers (Lin et al 2002;Mahattanatawee et al 2005), wine (Winterhalter and Gök 2013), Kentucky bourbon (Poisson and Schieberle 2008), cosmetic and spice industries (Bouvier et al 2003a(Bouvier et al , 2003b.…”

“…Several studies have reported that enhanced photosynthetic capacity can be achieved in leaves by increasing photosynthetic electron transport rates (Chida et al 2007;Lopez-Calcagno et al 2020;Simkin et al 2017b;Yadav et al 2018), manipulating Calvin Benson Cycle (CBC) enzymes to increase energy conversion (Driever et al 2017;Lefebvre et al 2005;Lopez-Calcagno et al 2020;Simkin et al 2015Simkin et al , 2017aSimkin et al , 2019Raines et al 2022), modifying photorespiration (López-Calcagno et al 2018;Simkin et al 2017a;Timm et al 2012), along with improving the kinetics of non-photochemical quenching (NPQ), a photoprotective mechanism employed by plants under high light stress, and the re-allocation of absorbed energy back into photosynthesis rather than being dissipated as heat (Glowacka et al 2018;Kromdijk et al 2016). Furthermore, recent studies have also suggested that increasing the photosynthetic capacity of non-foliar tissue such as fruits, stems and wheat ears could play a key role in improving yield (Simkin et al 2020).…”