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🧪 Photosynthesis turbocharged

🧪 Photosynthesis turbocharged

Daily news that is actually intellectually stimulating.

Anthony Ao
August 01, 2025

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Former Zillow exec targets $1.3T market

The wealthiest companies tend to target the biggest markets. For example, NVIDIA skyrocketed nearly 200% higher in the last year with the $214B AI market’s tailwind.

That’s why investors are so excited about Pacaso.

Created by a former Zillow exec, Pacaso brings co-ownership to a $1.3 trillion real estate market. And by handing keys to 2,000+ happy homeowners, they’ve made $110M+ in gross profit to date. They even reserved the Nasdaq ticker PCSO.

No wonder the same VCs behind Uber, Venmo, and eBay also invested in Pacaso. And for just $2.90/share, you can join them as an early-stage Pacaso investor today.

Invest for $2.90/Share

_{Paid advertisement for Pacaso’s Regulation A offering. Read the offering circular at}_{invest.pacaso.com}_{. Reserving a ticker symbol is not a guarantee that the company will go public. Listing on the NASDAQ is subject to approvals.}

🔬 MIT engineers unlock a major boost in photosynthesis

Researchers at MIT have enhanced rubisco – the sluggish enzyme that fixes CO₂ in photosynthesis – by using a continuous directed‑evolution system called MutaT7. By mutating a bacterial rubisco in living E. coli cells and applying selection pressure in an oxygen‑rich environment, they found three mutations near the active site that reduce oxygen binding and boost catalytic efficiency by about 25%.

MIT scientists supercharge Rubisco to improve plant carbon‑fixation efficiency

Researchers at MIT applied a novel continuous directed‑evolution method (called MutaT7) to enhance a bacterial form of Rubisco—the key enzyme that incorporates CO₂ into sugars during photosynthesis

The bacterial Rubisco variant, originally from Gallionellaceae, was evolved in E. coli under oxygen-rich conditions, driving adaptations that significantly reduce its wasteful reaction with oxygen and increase its catalytic speed by up to 25%

Unlike standard lab-based mutagenesis, this in‑cell method allows far more mutations to be tested rapidly, accelerating the discovery of beneficial changes.

This breakthrough points toward engineering more efficient Rubisco enzymes in crop plants, which could reduce losses from photorespiration—a process that wastes up to 30% of solar energy in current plant Rubisco systems. The ultimate goal: boost crop yields and agricultural sustainability.

Why it matters:
Enhancing Rubisco’s performance tackles one of the major inefficiencies in plant photosynthesis. It could translate into tangible gains in global food production just by making plants naturally more productive.

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The PhDLevel Team
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