Description: A major inefficiency of photosynthesis is in the regeneration of Ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) during the Calvin cycle. Through genetic engineering, our team will disrupt the typical pathway of the Calvin cycle and implement the enzyme transaldolase, allowing the cycle to be streamlined for a more continuous and robust regeneration of RuBP. This could vastly improve agricultural productivity by providing a mechanism to boost plant growth.
Description: Global agricultural productivity is projected to not meet the needs of increasing populations developing higher standards of living. On a cellular level, crop yield is limited by the inefficiency of photosynthesis. Our project aims to improve this efficiency by implementing an alternative RuBP regeneration portion of the Calvin-Benson-Bassham (CBB) cycle. Two alternative pathways, which use enzymes from other reactions that act on common metabolites used in the CBB cycle, were explored first via computational modeling. Impacts on growth and reaction fluxes in silico assessed the validity of these pathways in creating a more robust photosynthetic cycle. One of these pathways which overexpresses the native enzyme transaldolase, was also assessed in vivo. Ultimately, we showed the validity of two alternative pathways in allowing a more efficient regeneration stage of the CBB Cycle. These pathways could eventually be implemented into higher plants to allow more robust cycling and therefore higher crop yield.
The world depends on high agricultural productivity to provide food and resources to local and global communities. However, global demand for crop production is expected to increase dramatically. Learn how Miami University's CROP could increase the yields of crop plants.
The work done by Miami University's iGEM team was made possible by a team of dedicate and passionate students and advisors from a range of different STEM subject domains! Take a moment to learn more about Miami University's committed team!
The main point of contact on the Miami University iGEM team is the principal investigator Xin Wang. Xin Wang can be inquired below. For additional contact information on the team, please refer to the Team page.
This work was funded and made possible by the National Science Foundation!