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Molecular Plant Physiology

We are investigating plant and algal photosynthesis, growth and adaptation. We aim to understand how particular genetic, biochemical and physiological attributes of plants contribute to their performance in natural and agricultural environments.

Our 2 main areas of research are:

how plants acquire inorganic carbon from the atmosphere and use it for growth
how the mechanisms of photosynthesis are involved in the adaptation of plants and algae to their environment and how they limit the efficiency of growth.

An important long-term goal is to identify genetic information that might be incorporated into crop species to improve their performance in the atmospheric and agricultural environments of the future. Tolerance of extreme conditions such as high temperature and light, low water availability, and high carbon dioxide concentrations will be crucial for future generations of crops.

Current Research

Phenomic analysis of CO2 acquisition by cyanobacteria - Dr Dean Price

Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) have evolved a very efficient CO2 concentrating mechanism that makes use of carboxysomes (micro-compartments for Rubisco) and several active uptake systems for CO2 and HCO3-. We are studying how cyanobacteria sense CO2 limitation and alter gene expression patterns and determining the mechanistic details of active CO2 uptake.
Key approaches: Real-time PCR; defined mutants; mass spectrometry; proteomics.

The photosynthetic CO2-fixing enzyme, Rubisco - Dr Spencer Whitney

Rubisco is the gatekeeper of the biosphere's carbon cycle but its properties seem curiously inefficient, limiting photosynthesis and the size of the biosphere. Seeking reasons for this inefficiency, we study Rubisco's catalytic mechanism and regulation using computational, biochemical, spectroscopic and molecular techniques and we test our findings by genetically manipulating Rubisco in plant chloroplasts.

Photosynthetic functional genomics - Prof Murray Badger

We are studying the molecular and biochemical basis for aspects of photosynthetic carbon fixation in both plants and cyanobacteria using genomic and phenomic analysis.
Current projects include:

The genetic basis of photosynthetic capacity in plants
The diversity and evolution of the cyanobacterial CO2 concentrating mechanism

CO2 fixation and water loss of leaves - Prof Susanne von Caemmerer

We are investigating aspects of carbon acquisition by plants including the biochemistry of CO2 fixation and regulation of CO2 diffusion into and within leaves.

Current topics include: