New pathway engineered into plants lets them suck up more CO₂

A research team has engineered a new metabolic pathway in plants that allows them to absorb and utilize more carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. This breakthrough could have significant implications for addressing climate change. The engineered pathway enables plants to directly plug the captured CO2 into their key metabolic processes, such as photosynthesis and biomass production. This is a significant improvement over the natural process, which only utilizes a small fraction of the CO2 plants take in. By enhancing the plants' ability to sequester CO2, this technology could potentially help mitigate the effects of climate change by increasing the amount of carbon that is removed from the atmosphere and stored in plant biomass. Additionally, the improved CO2 utilization could lead to increased plant growth and productivity, potentially benefiting agricultural and forestry industries. The researchers believe this technology could be applied to a wide range of plant species, making it a promising tool in the fight against climate change. However, further research and testing are still needed to fully understand the implications and potential applications of this engineered pathway.