Active bicarbonate transporters from cyanobacteria: physiological properties, genetic regulation, and introduction into plants for crop improvement

一套有趣的膜运输蛋白，积累碳酸氢盐进入海洋蓝藻细胞将被调查。这些蛋白质支持海洋蓝藻（蓝绿藻）光合作用二氧化碳固定的关键过程，蓝藻是全球二氧化碳封存的主要贡献者，是海洋食物网的基础之一。这些碳酸氢盐“转运体”也将被转移到一个模式植物系统中，以测试是否可以提高光合作用的效率，从而相应提高这些植物的水利用效率。如果这项技术成功，将对提高半干旱地区的作物产量产生深远的全球影响。

An intriguing set of membrane transport proteins that accumulate bicarbonate into marine cyanobacterial cells will be investigated. These proteins support the crucial process of photosynthetic carbon dioxide fixation in marine cyanobacteria (blue-green algae), which are major contributors to global carbon dioxide sequestration and form one of the foundations of the marine food web. These bicarbonate "transporters" will also be transferred into a model plant system to test whether the efficiency of photosynthesis can be improved, with corresponding gains in the water-use efficiency of these plants. If successful this technology will have profound global implications for improving crop production in semi-arid areas.