Boosting photosynthESis To deliver novel CROPs for the circular bioeconomy

需要一种突破性的技术来提高作物产量(谷物和生物质)，并将其加工成具有经济价值的材料。具有增强光合作用和吸收温室气体的新型作物，如二氧化碳和臭氧，以及适合工业生产的定制秸秆，将是这一根本性变化的基础。我们是欧洲植物育种公司、秸秆加工公司和学术植物科学家的联盟，旨在利用光合作用知识的重大进展来提高大麦产量，并利用大麦秸秆质量和成分的变异性。我们将利用非常有希望的策略来改善大麦的光合作用特性和臭氧同化：i)调节叶片叶绿素含量和改变冠层结构；ii)增加光合作用对光照变化的反应动力学；iii)引入光呼吸旁路；iv)调节气孔开放，从而增加CO2固定和O3同化的速率。除了产量更高外，大麦秸秆还将进行量身定做：i)增加秸秆蛋白质含量，使其适合作为替代饲料生产来源；ii)控制纤维素/木质素含量和木质素特性，以开发建筑面板和秸秆增强聚合物复合材料。为此，我们的目标是利用大麦的自然和诱导遗传变异以及基因编辑和转基因工程。根据先例，我们预计，在不改变收获指数的情况下，改进我们的目标性状将导致地上总生物量增加15%-20%，并将通过更好的水和氮的资源利用效率在可持续性方面带来额外的好处。将建立公共对话，以确保利益攸关方的参与，并探索一系列技术作为作物改良和减缓气候变化的潜在途径的可接受性。

There is a need for a ground-breaking technology to boost crop yield (both grains and biomass) and its processing into materials of economic interests. Novel crops with enhanced photosynthesis and assimilation of green-house gasses, such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and ozone (O3), and tailored straw suitable for industrial manufacturing will be the foundation of this radical change. We are an alliance of European plant breeding companies, straw processing companies and academic plant scientists aiming to use the major advances in photosynthetic knowledge to improve barley yield and to exploit the variability of barley straw quality and composition. We will capitalize on very promising strategies to improve the photosynthetic properties and ozone assimilation of barley: i) tuning leaf chlorophyll content and modifying canopy architecture; ii) increasing the kinetics of photosynthetic responses to changes in irradiance; iii), introducing photorespiration bypasses; iv) modulating stomatal opening, thus increasing the rate of CO2 fixation and O3 assimilation. Beside the higher yield, the resulting barley straw will be tailored to: i) increase straw protein content to make it suitable as an alternative feed production source; ii) control cellulose/lignin contents and lignin properties to develop construction panels and straw reinforced polymer composites. To do so, we aim to exploit barley natural- and induced-genetic variability as well as gene editing and transgenic engineering. Based on precedent, we expect that improving our targeted traits will result in increases in above ground total biomass production by 15-20% without modification of the harvest index, and there will be added benefits in sustainability via better resource-use efficiency of water and nitrogen. A public dialogue will be established to ensure stakeholder engagement and explore the acceptability of a range of technologies as potential routes to crop improvement and climate change mitigation.