More than 3 billion years ago, on an Earth entirely covered with water, photosynthesis first evolved in ancient bacteria. In ...

A molecular biologist at the Salk Institute shows me a greenhouse full of plants that use a photosynthesis called C4. Plants with that kind of operating system are better suited to thrive in dry and ...

A schematic diagram outlining a generalized functional response by C3 plant species to elevated CO 2. On one hand, elevated CO 2 can have some positive effects on plants. For C3 plants, it can ...

The RuBisCO enzyme, the most abundant protein on the planet, is an essential component of photosynthesis, but it isn’t terribly efficient, especially when it gets hot. Over time, some plants evolved a ...

SAN DIEGO — Plants thrive on photosynthesis, which is essential to their growth and development. New research is showing how an alternative form of photosynthesis could produce more productive crops ...

Plants worldwide are increasingly exposed to drought and salinity, two major drivers of osmotic stress that hinder crop ...

Scientists discovered that certain plants can survive stressful, dry conditions by controlling water loss through their leaves without relying on their usual mechanism -- tiny pores known as 'stomata' ...

The oxygenation of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate by Rubisco is the first step in photorespiration and reduces the efficiency of photosynthesis in C3 plants. Our recent data indicate that mutants in ...

Cross sections of C3 rice (left) and C4 sorghum (right) shoots. Both grain crops evolved from a common ancestor, but sorghum evolved to photosynthesize more efficiently. LA JOLLA (November 20, ...