# 培育适应气候变暖的韧性作物 - 来源：Google DeepMind：Blog（RSS） - 发布时间：2025-12-05 00:23 - AIHOT 链接：https://aihot.virxact.com/items/cmnwsdqal003sslag5kjapfso - 原文链接：https://deepmind.google/blog/engineering-more-resilient-crops-for-a-warming-climate ## AI 摘要 科学家运用AlphaFold人工智能技术优化光合作用关键酶结构，增强作物耐热性，培育适应全球气候变暖的韧性作物品种，为粮食安全提供新解决方案。 ## 正文 How AlphaFold is helping scientists engineer more heat-tolerant crops — Google DeepMind December 4, 2025 Science Engineering more resilient crops for a warming climate - [x] Scientists are using AlphaFold in their research to strengthen an enzyme that’s vital to photosynthesis, paving the way for more heat-tolerant crops. As global warming accompanies more droughts and heatwaves, harvests of some staple crops are shrinking. But less visible is what is happening inside these plants, where high heat can break down the molecular machinery that keeps them alive. At the heart of that machinery lies a sun-powered process that supports virtually all life on Earth: photosynthesis. Plants use photosynthesis to produce the glucose that fuels their growth via an intricate choreography of enzymes inside plant cells. As global temperatures rise, that choreography can falter. Berkley Walker, an associate professor at Michigan State University, spends his days thinking about how to keep that choreography in step. "Nature already holds the blueprints for lots of enzymes that can handle heat," he says. "Our job is to learn from those examples and build that same resilience into the crops we depend on." Walker’s lab focuses on a vital enzyme in photosynthesis called glycerate kinase (GLYK), an enzyme that helps plants recycle carbon during photosynthesis.One hypothesis is that, if it gets too hot, GLYK stops working, and photosynthesis fails. Walker’s team set out to understand why. Because the structure of GLYK has never been determined experimentally, they turned to AlphaFold to predict its 3D shape, not only in plants but also in a heat-loving algae that thrives in volcanic hot springs. By taking AlphaFold’s predicted shapes and plugging them into sophisticated molecular simulations, the researchers could watch as these enzymes flexed and twisted as the temperature rose. That’s when the problem came into focus: three flexible loops in the plant version of GLYK wobbled out of shape at high heat. Experiments alone could never deliver such insights, says Walker: “AlphaFold enabled access to experimentally unavailable enzyme structures and helped us identify key sections for modification.” Armed with this knowledge, the researchers in Walker’s lab made a series of hybrid enzymes that replaced the unstable loops in the plant GLYK with more rigid ones borrowed from the algae’s GLYK. One of these performed spectacularly, remaining stable at temperatures up to 65 °C. We are now looking to see if this enzyme will increase the temperature resilience of a model plant Berkley Walker Associate Professor at Michigan State University Walker’s next step is to grow plants engineered to produce these hybrid enzymes and test whether they can hold their own when the heat is on. If successful, this approach could extend to other temperature-sensitive enzymes across photosynthesis. The idea is to reinforce the key process underpinning plant growth. Over time, this strategy could evolve into a molecular toolkit to help agriculture adapt a variety of crops to a warming world, safeguarding harvests and securing food production for future generations. Related posts AlphaFold Learn more Breeding healthier and stronger honeybees November 2025 Science Learn more Revealing a key protein behind heart disease November 2025 Science Learn more Accelerating the race against antibiotic resistance July 2022 Science Learn more Stopping malaria in its tracks October 2022 Science Learn more Fighting osteoporosis before it starts September 2022 Science Learn more AlphaFold unlocks one of the greatest puzzles in biology July 2022 Science Learn more Understanding the faulty proteins linked to cancer and autism September 2022 Science Learn more Targeting early-onset Parkinson’s with AI September 2022 Science Learn more Tracing the evolution of proteins back to the origin of life July 2022 Science Learn more Creating plastic-eating enzymes that could save us from pollution July 2022 Science Learn more AlphaFold transforms biology for millions around the world July 2022 Science Learn more Solving the mystery of how an ancient bird went extinct September 2022 Science Learn more The race to cure a billion people from a deadly parasitic disease July 2022 Science Learn more Advancing discovery of better drugs and medicine July 2022 Science Learn more