August 21, 2019
Altering the photosynthesis process could be the key to boosting crop yields. Food production would become more efficient therefore producing more plants and food.
Learn about this and more interesting stories from the scientific community in today's issue.
*-- New way to relieve photosynthesis bottleneck in plants could boost crop yields --*
Scientists have discovered a way to ease a bottleneck in the photosynthesis process. The breakthrough could allow plants to turn the sun's rays into food more efficiently, boosting crop yields.
In lab tests, scientists found they could accelerate a plant's conversion of sunlight into food by encouraging the production of a protein that controls the rate in which electrons flow during photosynthesis.
"We tested the effect of increasing the production of the Rieske FeS protein, and found it increases photosynthesis by 10 percent," lead researcher Maria Ermakova, a scientist at the ARC Center of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis in Australia, said in a news release. "The Rieske FeS protein belongs to a complex which is like a hose through which electrons flow, so the energy can be used by the carbon engine of the plant."
When scientists triggered the over-expression of Rieske FeS proteins, more electrons flowed during the photosynthesis process.
Plants use one of three metabolic pathways for carbon fixation during the photosynthesis. Most research into accelerating photosynthesis has focused on the C3 pathway, which is utilized by wheat and rice. The latest research focused on accelerating the C4 pathway, which is used by crops like maize and sorghum.
"These results demonstrate that changing the rate of electron transport enhances photosynthesis in the C4 model species, Setaria viridis, a close relative of maize and sorghum. It is an important proof of concept that helps us enormously to understand more about how C4 photosynthesis works," said study co-author Susanne von Caemmerer, deputy director of the Center of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis.
Researchers detailed their breakthrough this week in the journal Communications Biology.
Several studies have recently highlighted the need for changes in diet and land use patterns if climate change is to be slowed and global warming limited to 2 degrees Celsius. Breakthroughs that boost photosynthesis could allow farmers to grow more food with less land, a necessity if the agricultural sector is to feed the world's growing population while aiding the fight against climate change.
"It is really exciting, as we are now ready to transform this into sorghum and test the effect it has on biomass in a food crop," von Caemmerer said.
*-- Physicists say they've discovered a new state of matter --*
Physicists at New York University claim they have uncovered a new state of matter that could boost the storage capacity of electronic devices and pave the way for the first generation of quantum computers.
"Our research has succeeded in revealing experimental evidence for a new state of matter -- topological superconductivity," Javad Shabani, an assistant professor of physics at New York University, said in a news release. "This new topological state can be manipulated in ways that could both speed calculation in quantum computing and boost storage."
Traditional computers process bits, which can only assume the value of a zero or a one. Quantum computers use quantum bits or qubits, which can assume the value of one, zero or both -- and an infinite number of values in between.
The team of NYU researchers analyzed quantum state as it transitioned from its conventional state to a new topological state -- a state with new quantum properties and new quantum behaviors. Specifically, scientists measured the energy barrier that separates the two topological phases. A system requires a certain energy input for it to reorganize and adopt new quantum properties.
The analysis, detailed in a paper published on arXiv, helped scientists understand how a new topological superconductivity phase -- a new state of matter -- is created.
Researchers were particularly interested in observing Majorana particles, fermions that are their own antiparticles -- particles with the same mass but the opposite physical charge. Some scientists suggests Majorana particles could be used to store quantum information.
Unfortunately, quantum physicists have struggled to find a natural host for Majorana particles. However, the topological superconductivity phase, newly measured by scientists, could be used to house Majorana particles, which can insulate quantum information from environmental noise.
"The new discovery of topological superconductivity in a two-dimensional platform paves the way for building scalable topological qubits to not only store quantum information, but also to manipulate the quantum states that are free of error," Shabani said.
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