• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Friday, October 3, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News

Plant Protector: How plants strengthen their light-harvesting membranes against environmental stress

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
September 6, 2025
in Science News
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
IMAGE
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

An international study led by Helmholtz Zentrum München has revealed the structure of a membrane-remodeling protein that builds and maintains photosynthetic membranes. These fundamental insights lay the groundwork for bioengineering efforts to strengthen plants against environmental stress, helping to sustaining human food supply and fight against climate change.

Plants, algae, and cyanobacteria perform photosynthesis, using the energy of sunlight to produce the oxygen and biochemical energy that power most life on Earth. They also adsorb carbon dioxide (CO?) from the atmosphere, counteracting the accumulation of this greenhouse gas. However, climate change is exposing photosynthetic organisms to increasing environmental stress, which inhibits their growth, and in the long term, endangers the food supply of humankind.

The important first steps of photosynthesis are performed within the thylakoid membranes, which contain protein complexes that harvest sunlight. For decades, it has been known that the protein VIPP1 (vesicle-inducing protein in plastids) is critical for forming thylakoid membranes in almost all photosynthetic organisms – from plants on land to algae and cyanobacteria in the ocean. However, it has remained a mystery how VIPP1 performs this essential function. In the latest issue of the journal Cell, a new study by an international consortium of researchers led by Ben Engel from the Helmholtz Pioneer Campus at Helmholtz Zentrum München reveals the structure and mechanism of VIPP1 with molecular detail.

Building and protecting photosynthetic membranes

The researchers used cryo-electron microscopy to generate the first high-resolution structure of VIPP1. Combining this structural analysis with functional assays revealed how VIPP1 assembles into an interwoven membrane coat that shapes the thylakoid membranes. The research group also used the cutting-edge approach of cryo-electron tomography to image VIPP1 coats within the native environment of algae cells. By using the structural information to make specific mutations to VIPP1, the researchers observed that the interaction of VIPP1 with thylakoid membranes is critical to maintain the structural integrity of these membranes under high-light stress. “Our study shows how VIPP1 plays a central role in both thylakoid biogenesis and adaptation of thylakoids to environmental changes,” explains first author Tilak Kumar Gupta from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry.

This study lays the foundation for a mechanistic understanding of thylakoid biogenesis and maintenance. It also provides new opportunities for engineering plants that are more resistant to extreme environmental conditions. “Insights into the molecular mechanisms controlling thylakoid remodeling are an important step towards developing crops that not only grow faster, have higher yield and resistance to environmental stress, but also absorb more atmospheric CO? to counteract climate change,” says study leader Ben Engel.

International team research

This interdisciplinary study brought together the talents of research teams from the Technische Universität Kaiserslautern (Michael Schroda), Philipps-Universität Marburg (Jan Schuller), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Jörg Nickelsen), Okayama University in Japan (Wataru Sakamoto), McGill University in Canada (Mike Strauss), Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Till Rudack), the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (Wolfgang Baumeister and Jürgen Plitzko) and Helmholtz Zentrum München. “Our study covers a lot of new ground using a wide variety of techniques. This was only possible thanks to the tremendous collective efforts of the researchers in our international consortium,” says Ben Engel.

###

Media Contact
Communications Department
[email protected]

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2021.05.011

Tags: BiologyCell BiologyClimate Changecryo-electron microscopyDevelopmental/Reproductive BiologyEcology/Environmentenvironmental stress resistancephotosynthetic membranesplant bioengineeringPlant SciencesVIPP1 protein structure
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

blank

Illuminating the Future: Transforming Streetlamps into Electric Vehicle Chargers

October 3, 2025
Transforming Palm Waste into High-Performance CO₂ Absorbers: Malaysian Scientists Innovate with Agricultural Byproducts

Transforming Palm Waste into High-Performance CO₂ Absorbers: Malaysian Scientists Innovate with Agricultural Byproducts

October 3, 2025

AI Advances Enhance Sustainable Recycling of Livestock Waste

October 3, 2025

Optimal Blastocyst Count for PGT-A in RPL Patients

October 3, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    93 shares
    Share 37 Tweet 23
  • New Study Indicates Children’s Risk of Long COVID Could Double Following a Second Infection – The Lancet Infectious Diseases

    88 shares
    Share 35 Tweet 22
  • Physicists Develop Visible Time Crystal for the First Time

    75 shares
    Share 30 Tweet 19
  • New Insights Suggest ALS May Be an Autoimmune Disease

    66 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 17

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Illuminating the Future: Transforming Streetlamps into Electric Vehicle Chargers

Transforming Palm Waste into High-Performance CO₂ Absorbers: Malaysian Scientists Innovate with Agricultural Byproducts

AI Advances Enhance Sustainable Recycling of Livestock Waste

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Success! An email was just sent to confirm your subscription. Please find the email now and click 'Confirm' to start subscribing.

Join 62 other subscribers
  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.