A new research in agriculture may have found what agriculturists have been waiting for since decades – how to increase and improve photosynthesis in plants to boost better quality agricultural output.
This could be a crucial advance in agriculture considering that higher photosynthetic efficiency would prove beneficial as it is the primary way energy from the sun becomes available to crops, forming the base of the food chain. It produces and maintains oxygen content in the Earth’s atmosphere, and helps regulate atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, playing a role in climate mitigation. Improving photosynthesis requires a holistic, systems-level approach rather than a single, linear solution.
Now, researchers from Rothamsted Research in the United Kingdom and Mexico-headquartered International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) have found that a key signaling molecule called trehalose 6-phosphate (T6P) can enhance photosynthesis in plants by aligning sugar production with sugar utilisation. Photosynthesis in plants converts light energy into chemical energy in the form of glucose (sugar), releasing oxygen as a byproduct.
This vital biochemical process forms the foundation of most life on Earth by producing both food and the oxygen in the atmosphere. Field trials showed that applying T6P as a foliar spray increased photosynthesis by adjusting the balance between photosynthetic sugar production and growth processes requiring sugars. It did this by stimulating sugar utilisation into starch during grain filling. T6P triggers additional metabolic demand, leading to increased photosynthetic activity and supplying more glucose to the developing grain.