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INTERVIEW: WATER-WISE PLANTS FOR A WORLD GROWING WARMER - Interview with Julian Schroeder, Ph.D., Professor of Biology, University of California, San Diego
Biologists have identified plant enzymes that may help to engineer plants that take advantage of elevated carbon dioxide to use water more efficiently.
Plants take in the carbon dioxide they need for photosynthesis through microscopic breathing pores in the surface of leaves. But for each molecule of the gas gained, they lose hundreds of water molecules through these same openings. The pores can tighten to save water when carbon dioxide is abundant, but scientists didn’t know how that worked until now.
Dr. Julian Schroeder and his colleagues have identified the protein sensors that control the response. During this week's podcast, Dr. Schroeder explains how the discovery might help boost the response in plants that do not take full advantage of elevated levels of carbon dioxide.
3/5/2010
Very interesting. Possible implications that this could be manipulated to use maximun carbon dioxide for lowering global carbon dioxide levels and to manipulate water loss of plants? Perhaps incorporating C4 and CAM into other types of plants that originally did not have that capability? Thanks for this podcast.
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