Oral Presentation International Plant Molecular Biology Conference 2024

Adapting photosynthesis and tuber yield in potato with a photorespiratory bypass protects against heatwave stress. (#260)

Katherine Meacham-Hensold 1 , Amanda P Cavanagh 2 , Peyton Sorensen 1 , Jessica Fowler 1 , Ryan Boyd 1 , Paul South 3 , Jooyeon Jeong 1 , Steven Burgess 4 , Samantha Stutz 1 , Moonsub Lee 1 , Ryan Dilger 1 , Donald Ort 1
  1. Carl R Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, United States
  2. 2School of Life Sciences, University of Essex, Colchester, UK
  3. Plant Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, United States
  4. Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA

Over two growing seasons, a chloroplast localized synthetic glycolate metabolic pathway expressed in potato enhanced tuber biomass by up to 30%. We confirmed that this yield benefit did not come at the cost of tuber quality. In 2022, after two early season natural heatwaves, we observed enhanced daily carbon assimilation rates and increased photosynthetic capacity, with transformed plants having up to 23% higher Vcmax and 13% higher Jmax during tuber bulking stages,  showing that transformed plants were better able to withstand growing season heat waves than untransformed controls. The increases in photosynthetic capacity and potato tuber mass after early season heatwaves in this study present the AP3 pathway as a promising avenue for yield increases in the face of forecast increased intensity and duration of heatwave events as a result of global warming.