"Booster" Gene Game-Changer for Plant-Based Jet Fuel and Food Production

A team of scientists from the United States has made a game-changer discovery — a gene in poplar trees that enhances photosynthesis and boosts tree height by as much as 200 percent. The discovery raises hopes of gaining higher yields from important food crops and could aid national efforts to grow poplar trees for jet fuels as an alternative to petroleum-based fuels.

The gene, which the scientists call "Booster," occurs naturally in poplar trees. It enhances photosynthesis and, therefore, boosts plant growth. Booster is a chimeric gene. It contains DNA sequences from three genes that were originally separate, but combined, largely unchanged, into a single gene over time. Chimeric genes have unique origins and are believed to enable evolutionary changes that help plants adapt to new environments.

The team found that it contains one segment from a bacteria in the poplar tree's root system, while another segment comes from an ant that farms a fungus that infects poplars. The third segment is from the large subunit of Rubisco, an abundant protein found in plant chloroplasts.

Poplar trees created with higher expression of the Booster gene grew as much as 200 percent taller in greenhouses. The trees had up to 62 percent more Rubisco, and their leaves showed an increase of about 25 percent in net CO2 uptake. Booster also increased the size of thale cress, also known as arabidopsis. Poplar and arabidopsis are C3 plants, including key food crops such as soybeans, rice, wheat, and oats. The research team said that if Booster works the same way in food crops, higher yields could increase food production worldwide.

For more details, read the news article on the UC Davis website.