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1. Biosystems Design to Accelerate C ₃ -to-CAM Progression

   https://doi.org/10.34133/2020/3686791  

   Yuan, Guoliang; Hassan, Md. Mahmudul; Liu, Degao; Lim, Sung Don; Yim, Won Cheol; Cushman, John C.; Markel, Kasey; Shih, Patrick M.; Lu, Haiwei; Weston, David J.; et al (October 2020, BioDesign Research)

   Global demand for food and bioenergy production has increased rapidly, while the area of arable land has been declining for decades due to damage caused by erosion, pollution, sea level rise, urban development, soil salinization, and water scarcity driven by global climate change. In order to overcome this conflict, there is an urgent need to adapt conventional agriculture to water-limited and hotter conditions with plant crop systems that display higher water-use efficiency (WUE). Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) species have substantially higher WUE than species performing C 3 or C 4 photosynthesis. CAM plants are derived from C 3 photosynthesis ancestors. However, it is extremely unlikely that the C 3 or C 4 crop plants would evolve rapidly into CAM photosynthesis without human intervention. Currently, there is growing interest in improving WUE through transferring CAM into C 3 crops. However, engineering a major metabolic plant pathway, like CAM, is challenging and requires a comprehensive deep understanding of the enzymatic reactions and regulatory networks in both C 3 and CAM photosynthesis, as well as overcoming physiometabolic limitations such as diurnal stomatal regulation. Recent advances in CAM evolutionary genomics research, genome editing, and synthetic biology have increased the likelihood of successful acceleration of C 3 -to-CAM progression. Here, we first summarize the systems biology-level understanding of the molecular processes in the CAM pathway. Then, we review the principles of CAM engineering in an evolutionary context. Lastly, we discuss the technical approaches to accelerate the C 3 -to-CAM transition in plants using synthetic biology toolboxes. 

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2. p-Type BiVO ₄ for Solar O ₂ Reduction to H ₂ O ₂

   https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.4c13290  

   Seo, Daye; Somjit, Vrindaa; Wi, Dae Han; Galli, Giulia; Choi, Kyoung-Shin (January 2025, Journal of the American Chemical Society)
3. Planar defect-driven electrocatalysis of CO ₂ -to-C ₂ H ₄ conversion

   https://doi.org/10.1039/d1ta02565a  

   Li, Zhengyuan; Fang, Yanbo; Zhang, Jianfang; Zhang, Tianyu; Jimenez, Juan D.; Senanayake, Sanjaya D.; Shanov, Vesselin; Yang, Shize; Wu, Jingjie (January 2021, Journal of Materials Chemistry A)

   null (Ed.)

   The selectivity towards a specific C 2+ product, such as ethylene (C 2 H 4 ), is sensitive to the surface structure of copper (Cu) catalysts in carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) electro-reduction. The fundamental understanding of such sensitivity can guide the development of advanced electrocatalysts, although it remains challenging at the atomic level. Here we demonstrated that planar defects, such as stacking faults, could drive the electrocatalysis of CO 2 -to-C 2 H 4 conversion with higher selectivity and productivity than Cu(100) facets in the intermediate potential region (−0.50 ∼ −0.65 V vs. RHE). The unique right bipyramidal Cu nanocrystals containing a combination of (100) facets and a set of parallel planar defects delivered 67% faradaic efficiency (FE) for C 2 H 4 and a partial current density of 217 mA cm −2 at −0.63 V vs. RHE. In contrast, Cu nanocubes with exclusive (100) facets exhibited only 46% FE for C 2 H 4 and a partial current density of 87 mA cm −2 at an identical potential. Both ex situ CO temperature-programmed desorption and in situ Raman spectroscopy analysis implied that the stronger *CO adsorption on planar defect sites facilitates CO generation kinetics, which contributes to a higher surface coverage of *CO and in turn an enhanced reaction rate of C–C coupling towards C 2+ products, especially C 2 H 4 . 

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4. Flux Synthesis of MgNi ₂ Bi ₄ and Its Structural Relationship to NiBi ₃

   https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.9b03196  

   Hertz, Mary B.; Baumbach, Ryan E.; Latturner, Susan E. (January 2020, Inorganic Chemistry)
5. C ₃ plant carbon isotope discrimination does not respond to CO ₂ concentration on decadal to centennial timescales

   https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.17030  

   Stein, Rebekah A.; Sheldon, Nathan D.; Smith, Selena Y. (November 2020, New Phytologist)

   Summary Plant carbon isotope discrimination is complex, and could be driven by climate, evolution and/or edaphic factors. We tested the climate drivers of carbon isotope discrimination in modern and historical plant chemistry, and focus in particular on the relationship between rising [CO₂] over Industrialization and carbon isotope discrimination.We generated temporal records of plant carbon isotopes from museum specimens collected over a climo‐sequence to test plant responses to climate and atmospheric change over the past 200 yr (includingPinus strobus,Platycladus orientalis,Populus tremuloides,Thuja koraiensis,Thuja occidentalis,Thuja plicata,Thuja standishiiandThuja sutchuenensis). We aggregated our results with a meta‐analysis of a wide range of C₃plants to make a comprehensive study of the distribution of carbon isotope discrimination and values among different plant types.We show that climate variables (e.g. mean annual precipitation, temperature and, key to this study, CO₂in the atmosphere) do not drive carbon isotope discrimination.Plant isotope discrimination is intrinsic to each taxon, and could link phylogenetic relationships and adaptation to climate quantitatively and over ecological to geological time scales. 

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