There is a new understanding of the importance of key photosynthetic pathways in plants

Photosynthesis is one of the most important chemical reactions, not only for plants, but for the whole world
.
The impact of photosynthesis and its importance cannot be underestimated
.
So it makes sense that science has long been fascinated by the reactions and physical phenomena that make photosynthesis occur
.
One such phenomenon is the ferroxin/thioedededrin (Fd/Trx) pathway
.

The Fd/Trx pathway, discovered about half a century ago, has long been thought to regulate many light-dependent responses in chloroplasts, the organs
in which photosynthesis occurs in leaves.
The Fd/Trx pathway has long been thought to be extremely important for plants because it activates several enzymes in chloroplasts as a response
to light.
However, these assumptions are challenged
for two reasons.
The first reason is that other pathways
have been found in the leaves that can activate chloroplast enzymes.
The second is because until now, there have been no studies
on how inhibiting the Fd/Trx pathway affects plants.

To solve this problem, a team of researchers at Tokyo Tech, led by associate professor Keisuke Yoshida, used CRISPR/Cas9 technology to create a mutated plant specimen Arabidopsis.
The specimens were genetically engineered to make their Fd/Trx pathway completely defective
.
"By creating a model of the flawed Fd/Trx pathway, we were able to reveal its actual biological significance in plants, which led to some exciting discoveries
," Dr.
Yoshida said.

The researchers looked at these new mutated specimens and compared them to unmutated plants to understand their differences and thus understand the impact of
the Fd/Trx pathway.
To assess the pathway's role in activating light-dependent responses in chloroplasts, the researchers irradiated the plants with light of varying intensities and then examined the status of
enzymes in the chloroplasts.
In unmutated wild plants, enzymes have changed from an oxidized state to a reduced state
.
In contrast, in the mutant plants, none of the enzymes changed their state
.
The chloroplasts of the mutant plants develop abnormally and the photosynthesis capacity decreases
.
ATP synthase is the only enzyme
in the mutant strain that exhibits a reduced response.
This enzyme is key to synthesizing ATP, the energy storage molecule
of all living things.
ATP synthase has a variety of activation pathways and is not affected
by defects in the Fd/Trx pathway.

In summary, the researchers found that the Fd/Trx pathway is integral
to many light-dependent enzyme activation reactions in leaves.
The FD/TRX pathway is also important for efficient photosynthesis, which is essential
for the normal growth of plants.

Dr Yoshida said: "The insights we gained from this study about the work and importance of the Fd/Trx pathway in plants give us a deeper understanding
of the complex mechanisms that occur within plants.
This research also prompts us to delve deeper and answer many other questions related to the process of photosynthesis so that we can fully understand this awesome process
that powers the entire world.
”