Competitive grants from the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Research Initiative help fund this research. He studies this enzyme's role in photosynthesis. In this computer graphic, each ball represents an atom. The pink and purple balls are enzyme parts Spreitzer identified through selection and screening as potential targets for engineering a more efficient Rubisco. Red areas mark where the crop plant enzyme differs from Rubisco in the one-celled alga, Chlamydomonas.
Genetics research helps scientists decide which area to target in enzyme design.