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Title: A roadmap for research on crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) to enhance sustainable food and bioenergy production in a hotter, drier world

Journal Article · · New Phytologist
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.13393· OSTI ID:1213325
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  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  2. Univ. of Nevada, Reno, NV (United States)
  3. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Newcastle Univ., Tyne (United Kingdom)
  4. Brown Univ., Providence, RI (United States)
  5. Univ. of Cambridge, Cambridge (United Kingdom)
  6. Univ. of Oxford, Oxford (United Kingdom)
  7. Univ. of Liverpool, Liverpool (United Kingdom)
  8. Ohio Univ., Athens, OH (United States)
  9. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Ancon, (Republic of Panama)
  10. Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL (United States); Fujian Agriculture and Forestry Univ., Fuzhou (China)
  11. Brigham Young Univ., Provo, UT (United States)
  12. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
  13. Chinese Academy of Forestry, Fuyang (China)
  14. Newcastle Univ., Tyne (United Kingdom)
  15. TC Bioengineering Technology, Geel (Belgium)
  16. Centro de Investigacion Cientifica de Yucatan, Merida (Mexico)
  17. Univ. of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo (Brazil)
  18. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Ancon (Republic of Panama)
  19. Univ. of Toronto, ON (Canada)
  20. Univ. Autonoma de Coahuila, Saltillo (Mexico)
  21. HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL (United States); US Dept. of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA (United States)
  22. HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL (United States)
  23. James Cook Univ., Townsville, QLD (Australia)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) is a specialized mode of photosynthesis that features nocturnal CO2 uptake, facilitates increased water-use efficiency (WUE), and enables CAM plants to inhabit water-limited environments such as semi-arid deserts or seasonally dry forests. Human population growth and global climate change now present challenges for agricultural production systems to increase food, feed, forage, fiber, and fuel production. One approach to meet these challenges is to increase reliance on CAM crops, such as Agave and Opuntia, for biomass production on semi-arid, abandoned, marginal, or degraded agricultural lands. Major research efforts are now underway to assess the productivity of CAM crop species and to harness the WUE of CAM by engineering this pathway into existing food, feed, and bioenergy crops. An improved understanding of CAM has potential for high returns on research investment. To exploit the potential of CAM crops and CAM bioengineering, it will be necessary to elucidate the evolution, genomic features, and regulatory mechanisms of CAM. Field trials and predictive models will be required to assess the productivity of CAM crops, while new synthetic biology approaches need to be developed for CAM engineering. Infrastructure will be needed for CAM model systems, field trials, mutant collections, and data management.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation (NSF); UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725; SC0008834; DEB-1252901; BB/F009313/1; AC02-05CH11231; NAES 000377; 000380
OSTI ID:
1213325
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1616041; OSTI ID: 1787146
Journal Information:
New Phytologist, Vol. 207, Issue 3; ISSN 0028-646X
Publisher:
WileyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 147 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Recent developments in Agave performance as a drought‐tolerant biofuel feedstock: agronomics, characterization, and biorefining
  • Pérez‐Pimienta, José A.; López‐Ortega, Mónica G.; Sanchez, Arturo
  • Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining, Vol. 11, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1002/bbb.1776
journal May 2017
Transposable Elements in the Pineapple Genome book November 2018
The pineapple genome and the evolution of CAM photosynthesis journal November 2015
Computational analysis of the productivity potential of CAM journal February 2018
Improved water use efficiency and shorter life cycle of Nicotiana tabacum due to modification of guard and vascular companion cells journal March 2018
RNA-seq transcriptomic profiling of crassulacean acid metabolism pathway in Dendrobium catenatum journal November 2018
Light-responsive expression atlas reveals the effects of light quality and intensity in Kalanchoë fedtschenkoi, a plant with crassulacean acid metabolism journal March 2020
Phylogenetic Relationships and Evolutionary Trends in the Cactus Family journal November 2018
Secrets of succulence journal March 2017
A model of environmental limitations on production of Agave americana L. grown as a biofuel crop in semi-arid regions journal December 2018
Ecophysiology of constitutive and facultative CAM photosynthesis journal February 2019
Synthetic biology approaches for improving photosynthesis journal January 2019
Undervalued potential of crassulacean acid metabolism for current and future agricultural production journal June 2019
Comparative genomics can provide new insights into the evolutionary mechanisms and gene function in CAM plants journal September 2019
CRISPR/Cas9-mediated targeted mutagenesis for functional genomics research of crassulacean acid metabolism plants journal September 2019
CMAUP: a database of collective molecular activities of useful plants journal October 2018
BETYdb: a yield, trait, and ecosystem service database applied to second-generation bioenergy feedstock production journal January 2017
C 4 and crassulacean acid metabolism within a single leaf: deciphering key components behind a rare photosynthetic adaptation journal November 2019
Plant hydraulics as a central hub integrating plant and ecosystem function: meeting report for ‘Emerging Frontiers in Plant Hydraulics’ (Washington, DC, May 2015): Plant hydraulics as a central hub journal July 2016
Origin and mechanism of crassulacean acid metabolism in orchids as implied by comparative transcriptomics and genomics of the carbon fixation pathway journal April 2016
Temporal and spatial transcriptomic and micro RNA dynamics of CAM photosynthesis in pineapple journal August 2017
Transcriptome Comparison Reveals Distinct Selection Patterns in Domesticated and Wild Agave Species, the Important CAM Plants journal November 2018
Diel rewiring and positive selection of ancient plant proteins enabled evolution of CAM photosynthesis in Agave journal August 2018
Engineering photosynthesis: progress and perspectives journal January 2017
Similarities in the evolution of plants and cars journal June 2018
Putting the Mess in Order: Aspergillus welwitschiae (and Not A. niger) Is the Etiological Agent of Sisal Bole Rot Disease in Brazil journal June 2018
Water-Use Efficiency: Advances and Challenges in a Changing Climate journal February 2019
Fog Water Is Important in Maintaining the Water Budgets of Vascular Epiphytes in an Asian Tropical Karst Forests during the Dry Season journal May 2018
De Novo Transcriptome Assembly of Agave H11648 by Illumina Sequencing and Identification of Cellulose Synthase Genes in Agave Species journal January 2019
The Multiplanetary Future of Plant Synthetic Biology journal July 2018
Sisal Bole Rot: An Important but Neglected Disease book April 2020
Light quality affects light harvesting and carbon sequestration during the diel cycle of crassulacean acid metabolism in Phalaenopsis journal February 2019
The Kalanchoë genome provides insights into convergent evolution and building blocks of crassulacean acid metabolism journal December 2017
Hierarchical clustering reveals unique features in the diel dynamics of metabolites in the CAM orchid Phalaenopsis journal April 2019
Crassulacean acid metabolism: a continuous or discrete trait? journal May 2015
Engineering central metabolism - a grand challenge for plant biologists journal March 2017
Transcriptome analysis of bolting in A. tequilana reveals roles for florigen, MADS, fructans and gibberellins journal June 2019
The kinome of pineapple: catalog and insights into functions in crassulacean acid metabolism plants journal September 2018
Simultaneous knockdown of six non-family genes using a single synthetic RNAi fragment in Arabidopsis thaliana journal February 2016
Transcriptome Comparison Reveals Distinct Selection Patterns in Domesticated and Wild Agave Species, the Important CAM Plants book January 2019
Secrets of succulence text January 2017
Water-Use Efficiency: Advances and Challenges in a Changing Climate book January 2019
Time of day and network reprogramming during drought induced CAM photosynthesis in Sedum album journal June 2019
Correction to: Diel rewiring and positive selection of ancient plant proteins enabled evolution of CAM photosynthesis in Agave journal April 2019
Agave as a model CAM crop system for a warming and drying world journal September 2015
Crassulacean Acid Metabolism Abiotic Stress-Responsive Transcription Factors: a Potential Genetic Engineering Approach for Improving Crop Tolerance to Abiotic Stress journal February 2019
Comparative Genomics Analysis Provides New Insight Into Molecular Basis of Stomatal Movement in Kalanchoë fedtschenkoi journal March 2019
Performance Index and PSII Connectivity Under Drought and Contrasting Light Regimes in the CAM Orchid Phalaenopsis journal August 2019

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