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In retrospect

Fifty years of C4 photosynthesis

Nature volume 538, pages 177–179 (2016)Cite this article

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Half a century after the discovery of a plant photosynthetic pathway termed C4, researchers are working to engineer this efficient pathway into crops such as rice to maintain food security.

Fifty years ago, Hatch and Slack1 published an analysis of photosynthesis that gave birth to a new field. Their work not only stimulated intense biochemical research to define the mechanisms of a new photosynthetic pathway, but also fed into many other disciplines. Ecologists found that the pathway could explain species distributions. Geologists gained greater insight into changes in the isotope composition of sediments and fossils. And evolutionary biologists started to investigate the highly complex pathway, which is found in many plant lineages and is now considered one of the most remarkable examples of convergent evolution — a process in which the same feature evolves independently in different unrelated species.

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Figure 1: C4 photosynthesis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Julian M. Hibberd is in the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EA, UK.,

    Julian M. Hibberd

  2. Robert T. Furbank is in the Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.,

    Robert T. Furbank

Authors
  1. Julian M. Hibberd
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  2. Robert T. Furbank
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Correspondence to Julian M. Hibberd or Robert T. Furbank.

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Hibberd, J., Furbank, R. Fifty years of C4 photosynthesis. Nature 538, 177–179 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/538177b

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