New research reveals the atomic secrets of photosynthesis, providing insights into the complex process of chloroplast RNA polymerase transcription. This advancement holds promise for improving crop resilience and understanding plant growth mechanisms. Credit: SciTechDaily.com
The mysteries of
Seeing the polymerase molecule that transcribes photosynthetic genes in the plant chloroplast. Images of individual molecules collected with an electron microscope were sorted and aligned to reveal details of the structural architecture of the protein complex. Credit: Michael Webster & Ishika Pramanick
The Webster group at the John Innes Centre investigates how plants make photosynthetic proteins, the molecular machines that make this elegant chemical reaction happen, converting atmospheric carbon dioxide and water into simple sugars and producing oxygen as a byproduct.
The first stage in protein production is transcription, where a gene is read to produce a ‘messenger Related Post Why Nuclear Fusion Won't Solve the Climate Crisis
The model allowed them to identify a protein that interacts with the Related Post Ambidextrous Microbes May Pump Out CO2 as Temperatures Rise
Joint first author Dr. Ishika Pramanick said: “There were many surprising moments in this remarkable work journey, starting with the very challenging protein purification to taking stunning cryo-EM images of this huge complex protein to finally seeing our work in a printed version.”
Dr Webster concluded: “Heat, drought, and salinity limit a plants’ ability to perform photosynthesis. Plants that can produce photosynthetic proteins reliably in the face of environmental stress may control chloroplast transcription differently. We look forward to seeing our work used in the important effort to develop more robust crops.”
Reference: “Structure of the plant plastid-encoded RNA polymerase” by Ángel Vergara-Cruces, Ishika Pramanick, David Pearce, Vinod K. Vogirala, Matthew J. Byrne, Jason K.K. Low and Michael W. Webster, 29 February 2024, Cell.
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.01.036