White paper on Millets – 2020
- Plants are only able to utilize 20% or less of absorbed sunlight and dissipate excess light energy to prevent damage & oxidative stress.
- The switch between energy dissipation & utilization via Xanthophyll cycle can be a key for photo protection and improvement in crop productivity
- Xanthophyll cycle synthesis pigment called zeaxanthin an antioxidant from violaxanthin de epoxidase (VDE – key enzyme for the process)
- Studies done on unicellular green alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii at UC Berkeley Division of Plant and microbial Biology showed that the alga produces an enzyme Chlorophycean Violaxanthin de-epoxidase (CVDE) which possess photoprotective abilities which is different from other plant enzymes
- CVDE can be used to optimize photoprotection thereby improve photosynthesis & crop productivity
Read more at Science Daily
IIPL Bytes
- This is a very new approach which is focussed on the plant physiological perspective for crop productivity improvement
- Successful optimization or regulation of the enzyme complexes playing role in the Xanthophyll cycle can pave ways for achieving bigger picture in the future of crop improvement campaigns
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