Ensuring Nutritious Food Under Elevated CO2 Conditions: A Case for Improved C4 Crops

Abstract

Global climate change is a challenge for efforts to ensure food security for future generations. It will affect crop yields through changes in temperature and precipitation, as well as the nutritional quality of crops. Increased atmospheric CO 2 leads to a penalty in the content of proteins and micronutrients in most staple crops, with the possible exception of C 4 crops. It is essential to understand the control of nutrient homeostasis to mitigate this penalty. However, despite the importance of mineral nutrition for plant performance, comparably less is known about the regulation of nutrient uptake and homeostasis in C 4 plants than in C 3 plants and mineral nutrition has not been a strong focus of the C 4 research. Here we review what is known about C 4 specific features of nitrogen and sulfur assimilation as well as of homeostasis of other essential elements. We identify the major knowledge gaps and urgent questions for future research. We argue that adaptations in mineral nutrition were an integral part of the evolution of C 4 photosynthesis and should be considered in the attempts to engineer C 4 photosynthetic mechanisms into C 3 crops.

Comparative Transcriptome Analysis of Hypocotyls During the Developmental Transition of C3cotyledons to C4Leaves inHalimocnemis mollissimaBunge

“…Taken together, the observed gene expression changes indicate altered auxin and cytokinin metabolism and signaling, reducing CEP signaling in hypocotyls after emerging C 4 photosynthesis in the first leaves. The observations imply the fact that the nitrogen use efficiency is improved, and the total nitrogen requirement is decreased in C 4 plants (Jobe et al ., 2020).…”

How Does Diet Influence Our Lives? Evaluating the Relationship between Isotopic Signatures and Mortality Patterns in Italian Roman Imperial and Medieval Periods

“…These findings, along with a moderate shift in isotopic signatures, suggest that the analyzed individuals effectively consumed these plants, although to what extent exactly the retrieval of starches and/or macroresidues in dental calculus occurred is not clear [ 43 , 85 ]. Plants grounded on the C 4 photosynthetic pathway generally have lower nutritional values than C 3 plants [ 119 ], even though in recent years, increasing attention has been paid to the impact of current climatic changes in the mineral and protein content of C 3 crops [ 119 , 120 , 121 , 122 , 123 , 124 , 125 , 126 ]. In a Middle Ages context, however, the consumption of foods with lower nutritional values may have lowered life expectancy.…”

The Potential Role of Microbial Biostimulants in the Amelioration of Climate Change-Associated Abiotic Stresses on Crops

“…Likewise, phosphorus, calcium, potassium, zinc, sulfur, iron, copper, and magnesium concentrations decrease by about 5-13% in various crops when the carbon dioxide concentration is 690 ppm (Loladze, 2014). Under elevated carbon dioxide, a decrease in nitrogen and protein content in edible parts of C3 plants have been widely reported (Jobe et al, 2020), indicating an increased risk of nutritional problems for people living in the underdeveloped parts of the world (Loladze, 2014).…”