For improved photosynthesis plants to be genetically engineered

For the first time a plant has been created through genetic engineering to fix all of its carbon by a cyanobacterial enzyme. It is an important first step in creating plants with more efficient photosynthesis. A genetically engineered tobacco plant has been developed by researchers at Cornell University. The plant was developed with two genes from blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) and it promised to improve the yields of many food crops. Plants photosynthesize to convert carbon dioxide; water and light into oxygen and sucrose, a sugar used for energy and for building new plant tissue ­but cyanobacteria can perform photosynthesis significantly more quickly than many crops can. All plants require Rubisco to fix carbon during photosynthesis. Rubisco reacts with both carbon dioxide and oxygen in the air, but when it reacts with oxygen, a plant’s rate of photosynthesis slows down, leading to lower yields. Rubisco is protected in special micro-compartments called carboxysomes which keeps oxygen out and concentrate carbon dioxide for more efficient photosynthesis.