Researchers Successfully Simulate Photosynthesis « 2008 « Articles « LASNews Magazine « Alumni & Friends « College of Liberal Arts & Sciences « University of Illinois

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Researchers Successfully Simulate Photosynthesis and Design a Better Leaf

More plants with less fertilizer? It’s possible, according to plant biologists in LAS who have identified several proteins in plants that, if present in relatively higher concentrations, could almost double the organisms’ growth efficiency. The results came from a computer model used to mimic the process of evolution. The researcher’s model is the first to simulate every step of photosynthesis, the process by which plants convert light into chemical energy.

Winter 2008