Fifty years ago, the C4 photosynthetic pathway was first characterized. In the subsequent
five decades, much has been learned about C4 plants, such that it is now possible to place …

Highlights•Photosynthetic capacity must be increased to improve yield potential in C 4
crops.•C 4 photosynthesis concentrates CO 2 with complex anatomy and biochemistry.• …

Global warming is predicted to cause more intense extreme events such as heat waves,
flooding and severe droughts, producing significant effects on agriculture. In tropics, climate …

C4 photosynthetic plants outperform C3 plants in hot and arid climates. By concentrating
carbon dioxide around Rubisco C4 plants drastically reduce photorespiration. The …

C4 plants evolved independently more than 60 times from C3 ancestors. C4 photosynthesis
is a complex trait and its evolution from the ancestral C3 photosynthetic pathway involved …

Worldwide efforts to engineer C4 photosynthesis into C3 crops require a deep
understanding of how this complex pathway operates. CO2 is incorporated into four-carbon …

C4 photosynthesis evolved multiple times independently from ancestral C3 photosynthesis
in a broad range of flowering land plant families and in both monocots and dicots. The …

C4 photosynthesis is a physiological syndrome resulting from multiple anatomical and
biochemical components, which function together to increase the CO 2 concentration …

Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) has evolved from a C3 ground state to increase water
use efficiency of photosynthesis. During CAM evolution, selective pressures altered the …

Southwest Asia is climatically and topographically a highly diverse region in the xeric belt of
the Old World. Its diversity of arid habitats and climatic conditions acted as an important area …