Engineering more resilient crops for a warming climate

Scientists use AlphaFold to predict enzyme structures and engineer heat-resilient crops by stabilizing glycerate kinase (GLYK), a key photosynthesis enzyme.

• •GLYK helps plants recycle carbon during photosynthesis but breaks down at high temperatures, causing photosynthesis to fail
• •AlphaFold predicted the 3D structure of GLYK in both plants and heat-loving algae thriving in volcanic hot springs, since the structure had never been experimentally determined
• •Molecular simulations revealed three flexible loops in plant GLYK that destabilize and wobble out of shape under high heat
• •Researchers created hybrid enzymes by replacing the unstable plant GLYK loops with more rigid loops borrowed from the algae version
• •One hybrid enzyme remained stable at temperatures up to 65°C, opening a path toward engineering heat-tolerant crops