'Scarecrow' Gene: Key to Efficient Crops, Could Lead to Staple Crops With Much Higher Yields

Cornell researchers have taken a leap toward meeting the need to feed modern diets to additional mouths while using the same amounts of water, fertilizer and arable land as today by discovering a gene that could lead to new varieties of staple crops with 50 percent higher yields. The gene, called Scarecrow, is the first discovered to control a special leaf structure, known as Kranz anatomy, which leads to more efficient photosynthesis.

The original scientic publication in Planyt & Cell Physiology can be downloaded here.

Source; Science Daily, 24 January 2013