"Optimising photosynthetic performance in strawberries using blue light"

在过去100年中，全球用水量增加了6倍，是人口增长速度的两倍，预计在2030年之前将再次翻一番，主要是灌溉和农业。仅在英国，灌溉用水量在过去30年中就增加了10倍，而且这一趋势将继续下去。此外，预计到21世纪末，全球气温将平均上升2.7 ℃，导致叶片/冠层温度升高，蒸发冷却需求增加。气孔蒸腾作用是水供应和作物生产预期危机的核心。由于气孔行为影响光合作用、水分利用和叶片温度，保卫细胞是未开发但重要的研究目标，以（i）在缺水条件下改善植物水分利用或调节蒸发冷却以在水分可用性不受限制的热胁迫下优化叶片温度。气孔对光合有效辐射（PAR）的增加作出响应。然而，保卫细胞也表现出特定的“蓝”光响应，增加气孔导度的蓝光强度太低，驱动净光合作用。作为Berry Gardens资助的泵启动项目的一部分获得的初步数据表明，在建立阶段进行蓝光预处理可能会导致该季节后期光合作用速率的增加。

Globally, water usage has increased 6-fold in the past 100 years, twice as fast as the human population, and is forecast to double again before 2030, driven mainly by irrigation and agriculture. In the UK alone, the volume of irrigation water has risen 10-fold in the past 30 years and this trend is set to continue. Additionally, global temperature is predicted to rise by an average 2.7oC by the end of the 21st century, resulting in increased leaf/canopy temperature and a greater need for evaporative cooling. Stomatal transpiration is central to the expected crisis in water availability and crop production. Since stomatal behaviour influences photosynthesis, water use and leaf temperature, guard cells are an unexploited but important target for study to (i) improve plant water use under conditions of water shortage or adjust evaporative cooling to optimise leaf temperatures under heat stress where water availability is not limited. Stomata open in response to increasing photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). However, guard cells also exhibit a specific "blue" light response that increases stomatal conductance at intensities of blue light too low o drive net photosynthesis. Preliminary data obtained as part of a Berry Gardens funded pump-priming project suggested that blue light pre-treatment during the establishment phase could result in increased rates of photosynthesis later in the season.