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Biologists have identified plant enzymes that may help to engineer plants that take advantage of elevated carbon dioxide to use water more efficiently. The finding could help to engineer crops that take advantage of rising greenhouse gases. Plants take in the carbon dioxide they need for photosynthesis through microscopic breathing pores in the surface of leaves. But for each molecule of the gas gained, they lose hundreds of water molecules through these same openings. The pores can tighten to save water when CO₂ is abundant, but scientists didn’t know how that worked until now. The discovery could help to boost the response in plants that do not take full advantage of elevated levels of the gas, Schroeder says.  “A lot of plants have a very weak response to CO₂. So even though atmospheric CO₂ is much higher than it was before the industrial age and is continuing to increase, there are plants that are not capitalizing on that. They’re not narrowing their pores, which would allow them to take in CO₂, while losing less water,” One scientist said. Read the article here.