Novel approach to enhanced photosynthesis - new publications
Mike Blatt’s pioneering work to engineer increased stomatal responsiveness, and thereby enhanced plant metabolic performance, has been published in Nature Communications. Alongside this work, the University of Glasgow team have also published the finding that the enhanced stomatal kinetics, due to variants in the conformation of guard-cell potassium channels, exists in natural allelic variants in the C4 plant Gynandropsis. This bundle of publications now makes clear this important innovation for crop improvement.
Zhang X et al (2025). GORK K+ channel structure and gating vital to informing stomatal engineering. Nat Commun; 16: 1961. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57287-7
Fernanda A L S Alvim et al (2025). A C4 plant K+ channel accelerates stomata to enhance C3 photosynthesis and water use efficiency. Plant Physiology; 197(2): kiaf039. https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiaf039
Please contact PBL for further information and licensing availability on the GORK technology (20.665 / 23.700).
