Summary
The future warm climate is predicted to reduce crop productivity by decreasing the CO2 fixation in photosynthesis, which is a concern for global food security. CO2 fixation in photosynthesis is mainly constrained by an enzyme, Rubisco. Rubisco has several inefficiencies, including inhibition of its active sites by sugar-phosphate derivatives. Rubisco inhabitation reduces photosynthetic CO2 fixation and, hence, crop productivity and resource-use efficiency. The removal of such inhibitors to restore rubisco activity needs interaction with enzyme rubisco activase (Rca). Rca is a crucial heat-sensitive enzyme determining the efficiency of CO2 fixation by Rubisco and, hence, crop productivity and resource-use efficiency. Consequently, Rca is a promising target to develop productive and resource-use efficient crops for the future warm climate. The limited evidence suggests that exploitable diversity in the speed of rubisco activation and heat stability of Rca exists in nature. However, this diversity is largely unexplored, thus hindering our efforts to use Rca in crop improvement. To fill this gap, ScreenRca will identify and characterize fast Rubisco activating and heat-stable Rca in warm adapted C4 grasses - grasses with C4 type of photosynthesis. Specifically, ScreenRca will use diverse accessions of C4 model grass Setaria viridis and C4 model crop Sorghum bicolor adapted to a range of temperature gradients. These C4 accessions will be exposed to short- and long-term warm environments to identify novel, fast Rubisco activating and heat-stable Rcas using an intradisciplinary approach melding physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, and synthetic biology. Further, these novel Rcas will be characterized to uncover underlying mechanisms responsible for the efficiency in rubisco activation and heat-stability. These novel Rcas will have utility to develop climate-resilient, productive, and resource-use efficient crops.
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| Web resources: | https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101067343 |
| Start date: | 01-01-2023 |
| End date: | 31-08-2025 |
| Total budget - Public funding: | - 189 687,00 Euro |
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Original description
The future warm climate is predicted to reduce crop productivity by decreasing the CO2 fixation in photosynthesis, which is a concern for global food security. CO2 fixation in photosynthesis is mainly constrained by an enzyme, Rubisco. Rubisco has several inefficiencies, including inhibition of its active sites by sugar-phosphate derivatives. Rubisco inhabitation reduces photosynthetic CO2 fixation and, hence, crop productivity and resource-use efficiency. The removal of such inhibitors to restore rubisco activity needs interaction with enzyme rubisco activase (Rca). Rca is a crucial heat-sensitive enzyme determining the efficiency of CO2 fixation by Rubisco and, hence, crop productivity and resource-use efficiency. Consequently, Rca is a promising target to develop productive and resource-use efficient crops for the future warm climate. The limited evidence suggests that exploitable diversity in the speed of rubisco activation and heat stability of Rca exists in nature. However, this diversity is largely unexplored, thus hindering our efforts to use Rca in crop improvement. To fill this gap, ScreenRca will identify and characterize fast Rubisco activating and heat-stable Rca in warm adapted C4 grasses - grasses with C4 type of photosynthesis. Specifically, ScreenRca will use diverse accessions of C4 model grass Setaria viridis and C4 model crop Sorghum bicolor adapted to a range of temperature gradients. These C4 accessions will be exposed to short- and long-term warm environments to identify novel, fast Rubisco activating and heat-stable Rcas using an intradisciplinary approach melding physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, and synthetic biology. Further, these novel Rcas will be characterized to uncover underlying mechanisms responsible for the efficiency in rubisco activation and heat-stability. These novel Rcas will have utility to develop climate-resilient, productive, and resource-use efficient crops.Status
TERMINATEDCall topic
HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01-01Update Date
09-02-2023
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