Extreme heat impairs photosynthesis, depressing yields of crops like rice. By Erik StokstadAs plants convert sunlight into sugar, their cells are playing with fire.
Photosynthesis generates chemical byproducts that can damage the light-converting machinery itself—and the hotter the weather, the more likely the process is to run amok as some chemical reactions accelerate and others slow.
Now, a team of geneticists has engineered plants so they can better repair heat damage, an advance that could help preserve crop yields as global warming makes heat waves more common.
And in a surprise, the change made plants more productive at normal temperatures.“This is exciting news,” says Maria Ermakova of Australian National University, who works on