澳大利亚科学家找到了一种提高 Rubisco 酶产量的方法，这种酶对植物生长至关重要，重要的农作物将从中受益。
据称，这一发现推动了改善全球粮食安全的努力，旨在提高小麦、棉花和水稻等主要主食作物的产量 澳大利亚国立大学.
“The enzyme Rubisco has baffled scientists for over 50 years, as it is thousands of times less efficient at its job than most other enzymes,” said Dr Spencer Whitney from The Australian National University (ANU) who was leader of the research team from the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis, which funded the study along with the Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency (RIPE) project.
许多混淆源于 Rubisco 高度复杂的结构。它是一种由 16 个片段组成的酶，需要超过 12 种其他蛋白质的协助才能正确组装
“We focused on one of Rubisco’s partner proteins, called RAF1. By supplying a Rubisco with its partnering RAF1 we found the amount of Rubisco produced in leaves could be more than doubled,” he said.
Rubisco is the most abundant protein on the planet. It also has one of the most significant responsibilities in life on Earth: the conversion of carbon dioxide to organic compounds – the building blocks of all plant and animal cells.
“Understanding the partnership with RAF1 has important implications with regard to ongoing efforts to accelerate the sluggish activity of Rubisco – a key goal for improving crop productivity,” Dr Whitney said. “In a world with increasing demands for food, this is a milestone towards increasing the photosynthetic rate in crop plants that rely heavily on Rubisco.”
该研究与卧龙岗大学合作完成并发表在最新的 美国国家科学院院士 杂志，显示 Rubisco 和 RAF1 一起进化。一种蛋白质的变化需要另一种蛋白质的平衡变化。
“We improved the production of a modified Rubisco in leaves by inserting a modified complimentary version of RAF1,” Dr Whitney said.
“Including RAF1 caused Rubisco’s levels to double, and as a result, we obtained faster rates of photosynthesis and plant growth compared to the plants where RAF1 was not introduced.
“The finding also explains why our prior attempts to insert more efficient versions of Rubisco from some algae into plant leaves have failed – they require different chaperones to those available in leaf cells.”