Wenzhong Huang

Biomass Research Center, Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resouces, Sanya, 572025, Hainan, China
Author    Correspondence author
Journal of Energy Bioscience, 2025, Vol. 16, No. 5   
Received: 04 Aug., 2025    Accepted: 10 Sep., 2025    Published: 24 Sep., 2025

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

This study mainly discusses how to use genetic engineering to improve the photosynthesis of C4 plants, thereby increasing the yield of biofuels. C4 crops, such as sugarcane, corn and sorghum, are regarded as good raw materials for biofuels because they can efficiently utilize carbon dioxide and accumulate more biomass. In recent years, genetic engineering methods have developed rapidly. Methods such as CRISPR/Cas editing, synthetic biology, and multi-omics analysis have all been employed to regulate enzymes, transcription factors, and metabolic pathways related to C4 photosynthesis. These methods make photosynthesis more efficient, nitrogen utilization better, and plants more resilient to adverse conditions. However, there are still many problems to be faced in truly applying these achievements to industries. For instance, the adaptive balance of plants in different environments, biosecurity and regulatory requirements, cost input and the difficulty of promotion, etc. In the future, C4 photosynthesis projects may be combined with the transformation of C3 crops. With the addition of systems biology modeling and collaboration among different disciplines, there is an opportunity to cultivate efficient and low-carbon fuel crops. This is also an important direction for promoting sustainable global energy development. The objective of this review is to summarize these advancements and provide references for subsequent research.

C4 Photosynthesis; Genetic engineering; Biofuel; Synthetic biology; Multi-omics integration