Genetic hack

For years, researchers at the University of Illinois have been trying to find out whether it is possible to genetically modify a crop to boost its growth. In results published in Science on Thursday, they confirmed they had been successful in making tobacco plants 40 percent bigger thanks to a “genetic hack” or “shortcut.”

The wider goal isn’t to produce more tobacco but to apply the technique to wheat or soy beans, in order to meet mankind’s growing appetite. Their work is part of an international project that is being financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation and the British government, among others. Farmers have long used fertilizers, pesticides and other agricultural methods to achieve higher productivity, but these techniques appear to have run their course and it is thought unlikely they can extract more significant gains. The scientists at the university’s Carl R.

Woese Institute for Genomic Biology say they have found a way to make the process of pho - tosynthesis, the process by which plants use sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into energy, inherently more efficient. An enzyme called Rubisco is key to the process of converting atmospheric carbon into an organic compound the plant consumes, a process known as “carbon fixation.”

But the enzyme also acts to “fix” atmospheric oxygen, converting it into toxic compounds that the plant expends considerable energy eliminating -- energy that could otherwise be spent in growing. This competing process is known as photorespiration.