UC San Diego

It is necessary to identify methods for regulating excess atmospheric CO₂ to mitigate global warming and maintain habitable conditions on Earth. Plants naturally sequester carbon from the atmosphere and deposit it in the soil via their roots. This study aims to identify methods for increasing biomass in plants to increase their capacity to act as carbon sinks and mitigate global warming. The reasoning behind targeting biomass is that the larger a plant is, the more root biomass it has, and the more carbon it can sequester. Here, we show three genes impacted by a loss of function mutation that are significantly associated with increased biomass. The genes were studied using a variety of T-DNA insertion lines that each disrupt the function of one gene of interest. The phenotype of increased biomass was significant in all of the T-DNA lines. Identifying genes that can be knocked out to increase biomass enables translational research to have these genes knocked out in crop plants. Crop plants are cultivated on large scales, presenting a significant opportunity for optimizing plant growth and reducing atmospheric CO₂. Enhancing plants' biomass and carbon sequestration abilities will help slow global warming and mitigate food insecurity with the growing population.