More Efficient Maize Growth
Published:11 Jan.2021 Source:Heinrich-Heine University Duesseldorf
Maize has a significantly higher productivity rate compared with many other crops. The particular leaf anatomy and special form of photosynthesis (referred to as 'C4') developed during its evolution allow maize to grow considerably faster than comparable plants. As a result, maize needs more efficient transport strategies to distribute the photoassimilates produced during photosynthesis throughout the plant.
Researchers at HHU have now discovered a phloem loading mechanism that has not been described before -- the bundle sheath surrounding the vasculature as the place for the actual transport of compounds such as sugars or amino acids. The development of this mechanism could have been the decisive evolutionary step towards the higher transport rate that has made maize plants especially successful and useful. It is also likely linked to the more effective C4 photosynthesis used by maize compared with other plants, which only use C3 photosynthesis. The study was led by Dr. Ji Yun Kim and Prof. Dr. Wolf B. Frommer from the Institute of Molecular Physiology at HHU.