[SCAN] Insights into the regulation of the C4 Photosynthesis

SCAN

Title: Insights into the regulation of the C4 Photosynthesis

Speaker: Nelson Saibo

Affiliation: Plant Gene Regulation Lab, ITQB NOVA

Abstract:

The world’s crop productivity is stagnating whereas population growth put increasing demands on agriculture. One of the greatest scientific challenges in the coming decades is to increase the photosynthetic efficiency in order to enhance crop productivity. It is well known that C4 photosynthesis (ex. maize) is much more efficient than C3 photosynthesis (ex. wheat, rice) and many efforts have been developed to implement the C4 metabolism in C3 plants. However, the little knowledge regarding the regulation of the C4 photosynthesis has impaired this challenge. During the last years, our lab has contributed to better understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of the C4 photosynthesis. Since the C4 metabolism is highly dependent on compartmentation between mesophyll and bundle sheath cells, the mechanisms regulating the differential accumulation of photosynthesis proteins in these specialised cells are fundamental to our understanding of how C4 photosynthesis operates. Using different molecular approaches, we have identified and characterised many transcription factors and cis-regulatory elements involved in the cell-specific gene expression essential for the C4 metabolism. Our last results and future perspectives will be presented and discussed.