McCormick Lab

This odd little plant could help turbocharge crop yields. An international team of researchers has uncovered a remarkable molecular trick used by a unique group of land plants called hornworts, one… ... This odd little plant could help turbocharge crop yields. An international team of researchers has uncovered a remarkable molecular trick used by a unique group of land plants called hornworts, one t...

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An unconventional Rubisco small subunit underpins the CO2-concentrating organelle in land plants In many algae, photosynthesis is boosted by biophysical CO2-concentrating mechanisms, which pack the CO2-fixing enzyme Rubisco into liquid-like organelles called pyrenoids. Engineering C3 crops with a...

Our work on #hornwort #pyrenoids is finally out in @science.org! 🎉 We uncovered how hornworts pack their Rubisco into pyrenoids and successfully recreated them in Arabidopsis. A key step toward engineering more efficient photosynthesis in crops @btiscience.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Unique biogenesis and kinetics of hornwort Rubiscos revealed by synthetic biology systems Hornworts are non-vascular land plants, which diverged from vascular plants approximately 500 million years ago, yet the CO2 fixing enzyme (Rubisco) in hornworts has received little prior attention. This study develops the synthetic biology system to heterologously express hornwort Rubiscos and demonstrates that hornwort Rubiscos have different biogenesis dependencies. Further analyses of the kinetics of hornwort Rubiscos show that Rubiscos are indeed phylogenetically constrained.

Check out our hornwort Rubisco kinetics:
a) what catalytic tradeoff?
b) almost double the kcat by removing a chaperone
www.cell.com/molecular-pl...
Strong publication for Zhen Guo (Zen) Oh!

Our new review is out now – well done Ella, Sabina, Nicky and Charlotte – a great collaboration with the @mackinderlab!

From algae to plants: understanding pyrenoid based CO2-concentrating mechanisms. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

New light on pyrenoid membrane tubules - Nature Plants The pyrenoid contains internal membrane structures that are required for efficient carbon fixation. The two proteins SAGA1 and MITH1 are necessary for the biogenesis of these membranes and the deliver...

Check out this insightful commentary article for an overview of our discovery of the components needed to generate thylakoid membrane traversions through pyrenoids. Many thanks to Jean-David Rochaix. Full paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

SAGA1 and MITH1 produce matrix-traversing membranes in the CO2-fixing pyrenoid - Nature Plants Two algal proteins, MITH1 and SAGA1, play key roles in formation of membranes that deliver CO2 to the pyrenoid, a CO2-concentrating organelle. Their discovery marks a key milestone towards engineering...

Want to make thylakoids traverse a pyrenoid matrix? Read here to find out how! Excited that this fantastic collaborative story is now published, congrats and a big thank you to all involved @JonikasLab, @pituvilarnadal, @JinkersonLab and Sam Zeeman’s lab. doi.org/10.1038/s414...