title: Crop yield: challenges from a metabolic perspective.
abstract: Considering the dual use of plants, as bio-factories for foods and feedstock for bio-refining, along with a rising world population, the plant biotechnology field is currently facing a dramatic challenge to develop crops with higher yield. Furthermore, convergent studies predict that global changes in climate will influence crop productivity by modifying most yield-associated traits. Here, we review recent advances in the understanding of plant metabolism directly or indirectly impacting on yield and provide an update of the different pathways proposed as targets for metabolic engineering aiming to optimize source-sink relationships.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Botânica-IB-USP, Rua do Matão, 277, 05508-090, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biotecnología, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (IB-INTA), B1712WAA Castelar, Argentina; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), B1712WAA Castelar, Argentina; Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Luisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bermudez
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biotecnología, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (IB-INTA), B1712WAA Castelar, Argentina; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), B1712WAA Castelar, Argentina; Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Electronic address: carrari.fernando@inta.gob.ar.
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Carrari
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D001709:Biotechnology; D018556:Crops, Agricultural; D060847:Metabolic Engineering; D010788:Photosynthesis; D063245:Plant Development; D010944:Plants / Q000378:metabolism*