Rubisco proton production can enhance CO2 acquisition

Rubisco is arguably the most abundant--and most important--protein on Earth. This enzyme drives photosynthesis, the process that plants use to convert sunlight into energy to fuel crop growth and yield. Rubisco's role is to capture and fix carbon dioxide (CO2) into sugar that fuels the plant's activities. However, as much as Rubisco benefits plant growth, it also can operate at a notoriously slow pace that creates a hindrance to photosynthetic efficiency. 

About 20 percent of the time Rubisco fixes oxygen (O2) molecules instead of CO2, costing the plant energy that could have been utilized to create yield. This time- and energy-consuming process is called photorespiration, where the plant sends its enzymes through three different compartments within the plant cell. 

"However, many photosynthetic organisms have evolved mechanisms to overcome some of Rubisco's limitations," said Ben Long who led this END