C4 rice: a challenge for plant phenomics
Date
2009
Authors
Furbank, Robert Thomas
von Caemmerer, Susanne
Sheehy, John
Edwards, Gerald
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CSIRO Publishing
Abstract
There is now strong evidence that yield potential in rice (Oryza sativa L.) is becoming limited by 'source' capacity, i.e. photosynthetic capacity or efficiency, and hence the ability to fill the large number of grain 'sinks' produced in modern varieties. One solution to this problem is to introduce a more efficient, higher capacity photosynthetic mechanism to rice, the C 4 pathway. A major challenge is identifying and engineering the genes necessary to install C4 photosynthesis in rice. Recently, an international research consortium was established to achieve this aim. Central to the aims of this project is phenotyping large populations of rice and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) mutants for 'C4-ness' to identify C3 plants that have acquired C4 characteristics or revertant C 4 plants that have lost them. This paper describes a variety of plant phenomics approaches to identify these plants and the genes responsible, based on our detailed physiological knowledge of C4 photosynthesis. Strategies to asses the physiological effects of the installation of components of the C4 pathway in rice are also presented.
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Keywords
Keywords: Carbon isotope discrimination; Chlorophyll fluorescence; CO 2 compensation point; Compensation points; Photosynthetic efficiency; Chlorophyll; Fluorescence; Genes; Isotopes; Porphyrins; Photosynthesis; C4 plant; carbon isotope; crop improvement; Carbon isotope discrimination; Chlorophyll fluorescence; CO2 compensation point; Kranz anatomy; Photosynthesis; Photosynthetic efficiency
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Source
Functional Plant Biology
Type
Journal article
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2037-12-31