Engineering Improved Canopy Level Photosynthesis Into Sugarcane.

Engineering Improved Canopy Level Photosynthesis into Sugarcane

X. Zhang¹, Y. Zhao¹, A. Vilharinho¹, X. Chen¹, J.H. Jung¹, A.K Grennan², D. Ort² , Steve Long² and Fredy Altpeter¹

¹  Agronomy Department,  Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, Genetics Institute, University of Florida, IFAS, Gainesville, FL, USA

²Department of Plant Biology, Department of Crop Sciences University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, USA

Sugarcane is one of the most productive biofuel crops due to its superior photosynthetic efficiency. Sugarcane has a C4 type metabolism for fixation of carbon, allowing it to be very well adapted to biomass production in tropical and subtropical regions. Genetic improvement of photosynthetic efficiency can be achieved by targeting higher photosynthetic rates/unit of leaf area and by developing the most photosynthetically effective canopy. We introduced several different transgenes into sugarcane and will report on transgene expression and its correlation to altered phenotypes and the consequences for photosynthesis.