Scientists have created a new way to watch plants breathe—live and in high definition—while tracking exactly how much carbon and water they exchange with the air. The breakthrough could help unlock crops that grow smarter, stronger, and more drought-resistant.
It might, but I think engineering plants to be drought resistant is still a long way off. There’s more to going from C3 to C4 than just stomatal function, like the typical Kranz anatomy of a C4 plant and the extra biochemical steps in their carbon fixation. Then again, some common crops (like corn) are already C4 plants, so it could be possible to make them even more drought resistant. I just don’t know how they’ll ever improve the yield of crops under drought stress, even if they can survive it.
Edit: that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth looking into, of course.
I agree it’s a long way off. I went to a conference in early 2000’s and everyone was hyped for it.
Honestly I think you’d see better improvement by focusing on increasing yields in plants that are already C4 (like corn, as you mentioned). There are plenty of grass derivatives like sugarcane that are already C4 and also established crops.
It might, but I think engineering plants to be drought resistant is still a long way off. There’s more to going from C3 to C4 than just stomatal function, like the typical Kranz anatomy of a C4 plant and the extra biochemical steps in their carbon fixation. Then again, some common crops (like corn) are already C4 plants, so it could be possible to make them even more drought resistant. I just don’t know how they’ll ever improve the yield of crops under drought stress, even if they can survive it.
Edit: that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth looking into, of course.
I agree it’s a long way off. I went to a conference in early 2000’s and everyone was hyped for it.
Honestly I think you’d see better improvement by focusing on increasing yields in plants that are already C4 (like corn, as you mentioned). There are plenty of grass derivatives like sugarcane that are already C4 and also established crops.