Enhancing plant photosynthesis by engineering the carbon dioxide CO2-fixing enzyme Rubisco

Rates of photosynthetic CO2-fixation by many plants in the biosphere are frequently limited by the sluggish catalytic properties of the enzyme Rubisco. Screening the assembly capabilities and catalytic competency of modified Rubiscos in plant chloroplasts has been accelerated with my development of a specialized tobacco plastid transformation master line. This line will be used to transplant chimeric, foreign and mutated tobacco Rubiscos into chloroplasts and systematically enable me to identify amino acids that enhance catalytic prowess and influence the translation, folding and assembly of Rubisco subunits. The outcomes will identify protein properties that can be integrated into other crop Rubiscos to improve their catalytic efficiency.