The rapid growth of human population commands to increase crop yields by 50 – 70 % by 2050 in order to feed the predicted 9 – 10 billion people. Extra food and biofuel production has to be achieved using the shrinking supply of arable land making it a key global challenge that requires ground-breaking innovations and “”thinking outside the box””. One of the innovative solutions for future prosperity of humankind is improved photosynthesis. All food production is based on photosynthesis either directly when growing crops or indirectly when plants used to feed livestock. However, despite being the most important biological process on the planet, photosynthesis is surprisingly inefficient with only 5 % of sun energy received by plants converted into biochemical energy of sugars.
One of the bottle necks of photosynthesis which curbs crop productivity, in particular under high light conditions, is the CO2 fixation catalysed by ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (aka Rubisco).
Self-funded PhD candidates are encouraged to apply.
Please contact Maxim for more information.
Email: maxim.kapralov@ncl.ac.uk