Why Rubisco Matters: The Role of Rubisco in Photosynthesis and Life
In a hypothetical case, where alien invaders plan to eliminate Earth’s life forms by releasing a rubisco inhibitor, targeting a key enzyme essential for life, it is important to find out the role of rubisco in their plan. The regulation of rubisco allows for the fine-tuning of the rates of CO2 uptake to the rates of photosynthetic electron transfer. This guarantees that the levels of chloroplast molecules are always at their optimum for photosynthesis. It should be noted that in antisense transformants, the amount of rubisco may be reduced to around half of the usual value seen in wild-type plants without significantly impacting the pace at which plants develop or the rate of photosynthesis.
Consequences of Disrupting Rubisco
When the amount of rubisco in a plant is reduced even more, there is an immediate and proportionate restriction of photosynthesis and a drop in the plant’s dry weight. The potential multiplier effect that arises from the connection between photosynthesis and biomass yield should account for this observation. According to the information presented, rubisco is the essential enzyme on Earth since it initiates the initial phase of the photosynthetic process that fixes carbon dioxide. Thus, without it, plants could not store the energy gained from the sun.
Will the Alien Plan Succeed?
If photosynthesis were to stop, there would not be nearly as much food or other biological substances on Earth, the vast majority of living things would perish, and the planet’s atmosphere would ultimately become almost completely empty of gaseous oxygen. Hence, the aliens’ plan is likely to work.
Why We Owe Everything to Photosynthetic Organisms
It may be claimed that humanity should be thankful for photosynthesis. Algae in the water are responsible for producing around 70 percent of the oxygen found in the atmosphere. Photosynthesis using atmospheric oxygen creates the ozone layer, which shields living things from the potentially lethal high-energy ultraviolet radiation emitted by the sun.
Photosynthesis allows for the continued existence of life on Earth by contributing to the production of oxygen in the atmosphere and the supply of energy to food chains. About 2.4 billion years ago, the development of oxygen-producing photosynthesis paved the way for the emergence of more sophisticated living forms, like mammals and land plants.