Campus Units
Agronomy
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
2016
Journal or Book Title
Annual Review of Plant Biology
Volume
67
First Page
107
Last Page
129
DOI
10.1146/annurev-arplant-043015-111709
Abstract
Photorespiration is essential for C3 plants but operates at the massive expense of fixed carbon dioxide and energy. Photorespiration is initiated when the initial enzyme of photosynthesis, ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/ oxygenase (Rubisco), reacts with oxygen instead of carbon dioxide and produces a toxic compound that is then recycled by photorespiration. Photorespiration can be modeled at the canopy and regional scales to determine its cost under current and future atmospheres. A regional-scale model reveals that photorespiration currently decreases US soybean and wheat yields by 36% and 20%, respectively, and a 5% decrease in the losses due to photorespiration would be worth approximately $500 million annually in the United States. Furthermore, photorespiration will continue to impact yield under future climates despite increases in carbon dioxide, with models suggesting a 12–55% improvement in gross photosynthesis in the absence of photorespiration, even under climate change scenarios predicting the largest increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. Although photorespiration is tied to other important metabolic functions, the benefit of improving its efficiency appears to outweigh any potential secondary disadvantages.
Rights
Works produced by employees of the U.S. Government as part of their official duties are not copyrighted within the U.S. The content of this document is not copyrighted.
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Walker, Berkley J.; VanLoocke, Andy; Bernacchi, Carl J.; and Ort, Donald R., "The Costs of Photorespiration to Food Production Now and in the Future" (2016). Agronomy Publications. 109.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/agron_pubs/109
Included in
Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Biosecurity Commons, Climate Commons, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons
Comments
This article is from Annual Review of Plant Biology 67 (2016): 107, doi: 10.1146/annurev-arplant-043015-111709. Posted with permission.