Dissertation

Phenotypic engineering of photosynthesis related traits in Arabidopsis thaliana using genome interrogation

Promotor: P.J.J. Hooykaas, Co-Promotor: E.J. van der Zaal

Author: Niels van Tol
Date: 24 March 2016
Links: Thesis in Leiden Repository

Photosynthesis is the process that harvests energy from light, and fixes it as chemical energy. It is performed by cyanobacteria, algae, and plants. The overall solar energy to biomass conversion efficiency of plant photosynthesis is widely considered to be very low. Recent models have indicated that the human demand for plant biomass will exceed the current production capacity in the near future. Improving the efficiency of photosynthesis has since been designated as one of the primary targets for improving crop yield. In order to acquire novel insights into the process of engineering more efficient photosynthesis I have investigated the use of zinc finger artificial transcription factor (ZF-ATF) mediated genome interrogation as a novel tool for the enhancement of photosynthesis-related traits, the results of which are described in this thesis.