The role of proteins in C3 plants prior to their recruitment into the C4 pathway

Our most productive crops and native vegetation use a modified version of photosynthesis known as the C-4 pathway. Leaves of C-4 crops have increased nitrogen and water use efficiencies compared with C-3 species. Although the modifications to leaves of C-4 plants are complex, their faster growth led to the proposal that C-4 photosynthesis should be installed in C-3 crops in order to increase yield potential. Typically, a limited set of proteins become restricted to mesophyll or bundle sheath cells, and this allows CO2 to be concentrated around the primary carboxylase RuBisCO. The role that these proteins play in C-3 species prior to their recruitment into the C-4 pathway is addressed here. Understanding the role of these proteins in C-3 plants is likely to be of use in predicting how the metabolism of a C-3 leaf will alter as components of the C-4 pathway are introduced as part of efforts to install characteristics of C-4 photosynthesis in leaves of C-3 crops.