Improving the thermal stability of Rubisco activase

The major objective is to produce wheat germplasm with improved tolerance to heat stress through the modification of the key photosynthetic enzyme Rubisco activase. Current funds have allowed transformation of “best bet” candidate gene constructs into wheat as part of SP1.5. Joanna Scales, a BBSRC PhD student jointly supervised by Martin Parry, Christine Raines, and Mike Salvucci, generated the transformation constructs and will undertake the molecular and biochemical analysis of transgenic lines.