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Abstract
<p class="first" id="d5646968e51">C2 photosynthesis is a carbon concentrating mechanism
that can increase net CO2 assimilation
by capturing, concentrating and re-assimilating CO2 released by photorespiration.
Empirical and modelling studies indicate that C2 plants assimilate more carbon than
C3 plants under high temperature, bright light, and low CO2 conditions. I argue that
engineering C2 photosynthesis into C3 crops is a promising approach to improve photosynthetic
performance under these - and temporally heterogeneous - environments, and review
the modifications that may re-create a C2 phenotype in C3 plants. Although a C2 engineering
program would encounter many of the same challenges faced by C4 engineering programmes,
the simpler leaf anatomical requirements make C2 engineering a feasible approach to
improve crops in the medium term.
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