The most abundant enzyme on Earth, rubisco, has been providing the energy which fuels life on our planet for the last three billion years.
The most abundant enzyme on Earth, rubisco, has been providing the energy which fuels life on our planet for the last three billion years. While rubisco fixes billions of tons of CO2 each year, the enzyme is notoriously inefficient. This has created a biological paradox that has puzzled researchers for decades. Why is the enzyme that has been fuelling life for over 3 billion years not much better at doing its job? Many plant scientists have debated whether the enzyme is stuck in an 'evolutionary rut', making it impossible for it to get any better.
But new research from the University of Oxford has revealed that rubisco is continually improving, but that this improvement is occurring at a glacial pace.
Lead author Jacques Bouvier, a DPhil student in Oxford's Department of Biology, said: ‘Our research demonstrates for the first time that evolution is consistently improving rubisco and that further improvement of the enzyme is possible. Importantly, this insight provides renewed optimism for efforts to engineer the enzyme to help feed the world.’
Read more at: University of Oxford
