Man-made photosynthesis to revolutionise food and energy production [View all]

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http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/news/industrial-biotechnology/2012/120217-pr-man-made-photosynthesis.aspx

[font face=Times,Times New Roman,Serif][font size=5]Man-made photosynthesis to revolutionise food and energy production[/font]

17 February 2012

[font size=4]Improving natural photosynthesis to make new fuels and boost crop production is the focus of Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) funded research presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting today. It could see us one step closer to bottling the sun's energy or turbocharging plants to produce bumper crops.[/font]

[font size=3]The artificial 'leaf'
'Turbocharging' photosynthesis
Capturing 'wasted' solar energy

Photosynthesis allows biological systems to take energy from the sun and use it to produce food and fuel. It is one of the most important biological processes on earth but it's not as efficient as it could be. Natural trade-offs results in less than 1% efficiency in many important crops and so there is significant scope for improvement.

Scientists from the UK and US are working to engineer or enhance photosynthesis to benefit food and fuel production.

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