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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday January 09 2019, @01:16AM   Printer-friendly
from the make-hay-while-the-sun-shines dept.

Scientists affiliated with the RIPE (Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency) Project at the University of Illinois and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service report that they have been able to increase photosynthetic efficiency in genetically engineered tobacco plants by 40% over normal tobacco plants.
They did this by working around a well known problem in many types of plants. Instead of only taking in CO2, the main enzyme involved, rubisco, also can bind oxygen. This not only doesn't produce the usual carbohydrate that is the base of the food chain, it creates toxic side products that the plants have to spend energy to break down into safe forms.
The key thing they show is that they can do this not in the laboratory, but in ordinary fields here in Central Illinois. Tobacco is a common "lab rat" plant, so it's not about the tobacco industry. Many of our biggest crops (so called C3 plants) waste energy this way. If they can do it for tobacco, they probably can do this for other plants as well.

PhysOrg: https://phys.org/news/2019-01-scientists-shortcut-photosynthetic-glitch-boost.html

Original Science Paper (may be paywalled): http://science.sciencemag.org/content/363/6422/eaat9077


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday January 09 2019, @01:32AM (10 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Wednesday January 09 2019, @01:32AM (#783936) Homepage Journal

    This has me thinking I should start a tobacco garden. Loose tobacco is pretty damned cheap and they don't do a tenth of the stuff to it that they do to pre-assembled cigarettes but it'd still be nice to know exactly what's been done to it.

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  • (Score: 2) by Hartree on Wednesday January 09 2019, @03:41AM (3 children)

    by Hartree (195) on Wednesday January 09 2019, @03:41AM (#783971)

    My dad used to grow it in his garden. He did it more as a lark than anything practical. The growing is easy. It's the curing and aging for a year or more that takes time and getting the conditions right.

    • (Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday January 09 2019, @09:22AM (2 children)

      by krishnoid (1156) on Wednesday January 09 2019, @09:22AM (#784039)

      Pfft, amateur. If he'd used the right curing accelerant [wikia.com] he'd have had a full tomacco crop overnight.

      • (Score: 2) by Hartree on Thursday January 10 2019, @12:49AM (1 child)

        by Hartree (195) on Thursday January 10 2019, @12:49AM (#784370)

        Yeah, but those overly protective homeland security types get twitchy when you start putting plutonium in your garden.

        • (Score: 2) by krishnoid on Thursday January 10 2019, @11:22PM

          by krishnoid (1156) on Thursday January 10 2019, @11:22PM (#784717)

          It's ok though as long as you get a license from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tomacco, and Firearms/Fissionables. Although I think they're closed during the shutdown ... but then again, maybe DHS is too .

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday January 09 2019, @04:14AM (4 children)

    by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Wednesday January 09 2019, @04:14AM (#783976) Homepage Journal

    You grow it in your Garden -- no Tax. You don't pay Tax on it. That makes you smart. I hate the way our government spends our taxes because they are wasting our money. They don’t know what they’re doing. They’re running it so poorly. Whether it’s spent in Iraq or wherever they’re spending it, they are wasting our money. So I do hate the way our government spends our money.

    • (Score: 4, Touché) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday January 09 2019, @04:29AM (2 children)

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Wednesday January 09 2019, @04:29AM (#783980) Homepage Journal

      Good job on making sure they can't spend as much of it for the past couple weeks then.

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      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday January 09 2019, @08:37AM (1 child)

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday January 09 2019, @08:37AM (#784034) Journal

        Or, when they get back their control, waste some more on an ineffective wal

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    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 09 2019, @02:40PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 09 2019, @02:40PM (#784111)

      Like border walls? I hate it when politicians waste money on useless border walls.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 09 2019, @06:05PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 09 2019, @06:05PM (#784207)

    It's good for intercropping, and not hard to grow in most climates. The processing is where all the annoyance is.