Improving photosynthetic efficiency toward food security: Strategies, advances, and perspectives.

Dimitri Tolleter, Andreas P M Weber, Tianshu Sun, Urte Schlüter, Julian M Hibberd, Oliver Ebenhöh, Matthias Heinemann, Gilles Curien, Giovanni Finazzi, Edward N Smith, Paul A Gómez-Coronado, Tobias J Erb, Alessandro Alboresi, Tomas Morosinotto, Benjamin Stich, Ülo Niinemets, Tiina Tosens, Marvin van Aalst

Journal: Molecular plant 2023;16(10):1547-1563

PMID: 37660255

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Abstract

Photosynthesis in crops and natural vegetation allows light energy to be converted into chemical energy and thus forms the foundation for almost all terrestrial trophic networks on Earth. The efficiency of photosynthetic energy conversion plays a crucial role in determining the portion of incident solar radiation that can be used to generate plant biomass throughout a growth season. Consequently, alongside the factors such as resource availability, crop management, crop selection, maintenance costs, and intrinsic yield potential, photosynthetic energy use efficiency significantly influences crop yield. Photosynthetic efficiency is relevant to sustainability and food security because it affects water use efficiency, nutrient use efficiency, and land use efficiency. This review focuses specifically on the potential for improvements in photosynthetic efficiency to drive a sustainable increase in crop yields. We discuss bypassing photorespiration, enhancing light use efficiency, harnessing natural variation in photosynthetic parameters for breeding purposes, and adopting new-to-nature approaches that show promise for achieving unprecedented gains in photosynthetic efficiency.

Address: Faculty of Science and Engineering, Molecular Systems Biology - Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, the Netherlands.; Institute of Quantitative and Theoretical Biology, Cluster of Excellence on Plant Science (CEPLAS), Heinrich Heine University, Universitätsstrasse 1, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.; Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences, 51006 Tartu, Estonia.; Institute of Quantitative Genetics and Genomics of Plants, Cluster of Excellence on Plant Science (CEPLAS), Heinrich Heine University, Universitätsstrasse 1, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.; Department of Biology, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy.; Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Department of Biochemistry & Synthetic Metabolism, 35043 Marburg, Germany.; Interdisciplinary Research Institute of Grenoble, IRIG-LPCV, Grenoble Alpes University, CNRS, CEA, INRAE, 38000 Grenoble, France.; Molecular Physiology, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EA, UK.; Institute for Plant Biochemistry, Cluster of Excellence on Plant Science (CEPLAS), Heinrich Heine University, Universitätsstrasse 1, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany.; Institute for Plant Biochemistry, Cluster of Excellence on Plant Science (CEPLAS), Heinrich Heine University, Universitätsstrasse 1, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany. Electronic address: [email protected].

DOI: 10.1016/j.molp.2023.08.017

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MeSH Terms: Plant Breeding, Photosynthesis, Crops, Agricultural, Nutrients, Food Security