The opportunity for and significance of alteration of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase activities in crop production.
Increased population and the dietary changes accompanying increased affluence are creating a need for a suggested doubling of world cereal grain production (a 3% per year compounding rate) and quadrupling of grain legume production (a 6% per year compounding rate) during this quarter century (1). CO2 enrichment of field-grown crops has demonstrated the possibility of enhancing RuBP carboxylase activity to achieve improved crop production; it increases the production of grain legumes by 50 to 100% and that of cereal grains, for which the studies are less complete, by perhaps 10 to 50%. Results of O2 alteration of growth-room legumes and cereal grains are consistent with the results of CO2 enrichment except for a second role of O2 in assimilate partitioning. It may be necessary to include other components of the system, e.g., additional soil fertility, especially for non-N2-fixing plants, to enable an improved RuBP carboxylase to increase production. No practical method--chemical, genetic, or physical--of improving RuBP carboxylase activity has been reported.
D000383:Agriculture; D002262:Carboxy-Lyases / Q000378:metabolism*; D002523:Edible Grain; D006801:Humans; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism; D009753:Nutritive Value; D010788:Photosynthesis; D010944:Plants / Q000201:enzymology*; D012273:Ribulose-Bisphosphate Carboxylase / Q000378:metabolism*
D002262:Carboxy-Lyases; D012273:Ribulose-Bisphosphate Carboxylase