Photosynthesis News and Research

RSS

Photosynthesis is a chemical process by which plants, some bacteria, and algae convert energy derived from sunlight to chemical energy. This is an important process for biological life on earth because it allows energy from sunlight to be harnessed and transferred into a form that can be utilized by organisms to fuel their activity.

Chemosynthesis fuels ocean microbes in the darkest depths

A world first study reverses the idea that the bulk of life in the ocean is fuelled by photosynthesis via sunshine, revealing that many ocean microbes in fact get their energy from hydrogen and carbon monoxide.

7 Feb 2023

MSU research reveals why switchgrass stops photosynthesis in the middle of its growing season

Michigan State University researchers have solved a puzzle that could help switchgrass realize its full potential as a low-cost, sustainable biofuel crop and curb our dependence on fossil fuels.

31 Jan 2023

Researchers discover new type of pathogenic fungus that infects potatoes

RUDN University biologists have discovered a new type of pathogenic fungus that infects potatoes and leads to massive crop loss.

31 Jan 2023

Smallest known freshwater green algae, Medakamo hakoo, discovered

A new species of microalgae was discovered in water from a home aquarium. Scientists from the University of Tokyo noticed Medakamo hakoo while examining DNA samples taken from algae. Its DNA sequence did not match any previously known species.

30 Jan 2023

Study sheds new light on a lifestyle switch that occurs in marine bacteria

Scientists have detailed a lifestyle switch that occurs in marine bacteria, where they change from coexisting with algae hosts in a mutually beneficial interaction to suddenly killing them.

25 Jan 2023

Study suggests new strategies for controlling plant biochemistry

Plant biochemists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered a new level of regulation in the biochemical "machinery" that plants use to convert organic carbon derived from photosynthesis into a range of ring-shaped aromatic molecules.

12 Jan 2023

UCR researchers decode the secret language of photosynthesis

For decades, scientists have been stumped by the signals plants send themselves to initiate photosynthesis, the process of turning sunlight into sugars.

3 Jan 2023

Living “bio-solar cell” runs on photosynthesis

Plants can provide food, oxygen, and decor, but they are not commonly thought to be useful sources of electricity.

15 Dec 2022

Scientists identify the long-sought CO2 sensor in Arabidopsis plants

More than 50 years, ago researchers discovered that plants can sense carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations. As CO2 levels change, "breathing" pores in leaves called stomata open and close, thus controlling evaporation of water, photosynthesis and plant growth.

8 Dec 2022

Nitrogen metabolism adaptations allowed marine cyanobacteria to survive in the ocean

The UCO publishes a review of the nitrogen metabolism adaptations that allowed the most abundant photosynthetic organism on Earth, marine cyanobacteria, to survive in environments very poor in nutrients.

30 Nov 2022

Study offers insight into the working and importance of Fd/Trx pathway in plants

Photosynthesis is one of the most important chemical reactions, not just for plants but also for the entire world.

22 Nov 2022

New method reveals how photosynthetic microalgae interact with their environment

Microalgae are algae too small to see with the human eye that live in both fresh and sea water. They are responsible for half of fixation of carbon that occurs on Earth through photosynthesis.

2 Nov 2022

Structure of phycobilisomes of cyanobacterium revealed

Researchers of RIKEN identified the structure of the “antenna” that a blue-green alga employs to yield light and compared it with those of four other species.

1 Nov 2022

Bacteria do engage in photosynthesis, research suggests

Knowing whether or not marine microbes engage in photosynthesis -; the use of sunlight to turn carbon dioxide and water into energy -; could help scientists to learn if ocean bacteria play a role in the global carbon cycle.

25 Oct 2022

Dual threat may lead cyanobacteria to take in more carbon

The types of ocean bacteria known to absorb carbon dioxide from the air require more energy – in the form of carbon – and other resources when they're simultaneously infected by viruses and face attack from nearby predators, new research has found.

19 Oct 2022

Molecular insights into the photosynthesis process

The most essential foundation of life on Earth is photosynthesis. Plants and single-celled algae use sunlight’s energy to turn it into sugar and biomass.

17 Oct 2022

Dynamic oxygen levels could have accelerated the development of early animal life

Oxygen levels in the Earth's atmosphere are likely to have "fluctuated wildly" one billion years ago, creating conditions that could have accelerated the development of early animal life, according to new research.

17 Oct 2022

Machine learning can predict the biological properties of Earth's most abundant enzyme

A Newcastle University study has for the first time shown that machine learning can predict the biological properties of the most abundant enzyme on Earth - Rubisco.

From Newcastle University 3 Oct 2022

Crucial steps taken to produce sustainable chemicals in living microfactories

Professor Stefan Mecking from the University of Konstanz’s Department of Chemistry and Doctoral Candidate Natalie Schunck have now discovered a means to significantly increase the efficiency of the process of upgrading sustainable raw materials.

30 Sep 2022

Discovery of genes lending tolerance to sugarcane from pests, cold, and drought

Saccharum spontaneum, a species of wild sugarcane with exceptional resistance to biotic stresses like nematodes, fungi, bacteria, and other pests and diseases, as well as abiotic stresses like cold, drought, salinity, and nutritionally deficient soil, was the subject of a study at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in Brazil.

28 Sep 2022