Changing plant chloroplasts to improve crop performance

Thursday 14th May 2020, 12.23pm

Chloroplasts are tiny protein-filled units within plant cells. As well as being responsible for photosynthesis, they are critical to a plant’s ability to respond to its environment (for example, to the intensity of light or the threat of disease). They do this by importing the proteins they need – and getting rid of those they don’t need. Scientists at the University of Oxford have been examining this removal system – which they call CHLORAD – and investigating how it might be manipulated to improve crop quality.