The Role of Photosynthesis in Improving Maize Tolerance to Ozone Pollution
Lisa Ainsworth, USDA-ARS, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Abstract: Ground-level ozone pollution has more than doubled since pre-industrial times, and is currently estimated to cause up to 10% reductions in U.S. maize yields annually. Maize productivity is reduced by exposure to ozone as it diffuses through stomatal pores and reacts to form damaging reactive oxygen species in the apoplast. Ozone also accelerates the loss of photosynthetic capacity associated with senescence. Traditional breeding has not selected for ozone tolerance in crops, and the selection for greater stomatal conductance may have inadvertently increased ozone stress. Thus, in order to improve maize tolerance to ozone, it is critical to improve understanding of the initial cellular and molecular responses to the air pollutant, and to identify genetic variation in the response of crops to rising ozone stress. This talk will focus on recent advances in such understanding and identify further research needs.
Bio: Lisa Ainsworth is a USDA ARS scientist in the Global Change and Photosynthesis Research Unit and Professor of Plant Biology at the University of Illinois. She received her BS in Biology at UCLA and PhD in Crop Sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research aims to improve ozone tolerance in major crops, as well as to adapt crops to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Lisa was awarded the Charles Albert Shull Award from the American Society of Plant Biologists, the President's Medal from the Society of Experimental Biology and she is on the Thomson Reuters/Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers List.
