title: Engineering crassulacean acid metabolism to improve water-use efficiency.
abstract: Climatic extremes threaten agricultural sustainability worldwide. One approach to increase plant water-use efficiency (WUE) is to introduce crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) into C3 crops. Such a task requires comprehensive systems-level understanding of the enzymatic and regulatory pathways underpinning this temporal CO2 pump. Here we review the progress that has been made in achieving this goal. Given that CAM arose through multiple independent evolutionary origins, comparative transcriptomics and genomics of taxonomically diverse CAM species are being used to define the genetic 'parts list' required to operate the core CAM functional modules of nocturnal carboxylation, diurnal decarboxylation, and inverse stomatal regulation. Engineered CAM offers the potential to sustain plant productivity for food, feed, fiber, and biofuel production in hotter and drier climates.
authors.affiliation: School of Biology, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK; Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6407, USA.
authors.forename: Anne M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Borland
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences, Institute of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZB, UK.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hartwell
authors.affiliation: Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6407, USA.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Weston
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, MS330, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557-0330, USA.
authors.forename: Karen A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Schlauch
authors.affiliation: Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6407, USA.
authors.forename: Timothy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Tschaplinski
authors.affiliation: Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6407, USA.
authors.forename: Gerald A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Tuskan
authors.affiliation: Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6407, USA.
authors.forename: Xiaohan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, MS330, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557-0330, USA. Electronic address: jcushman@unr.edu.
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Cushman
mesh_terms: D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D018556:Crops, Agricultural; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D005818:Genetic Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D010788:Photosynthesis / Q000502:physiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena; D054046:Plant Stomata / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D049490:Systems Biology; D014867:Water / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014867:Water; D002245:Carbon Dioxide
keywords: biodesign; bioenergy; crassulacean acid metabolism; engineering CAM into C(3) plants; water-use efficiency