题记：植物会可以自行决定将多少碳释放回大气中，这一发现对将植物用作碳储存器具有“深远意义”；这也说明在植物的身上存在一个特殊的开关：吸收和释放碳。何时释放多少二氧化碳是一个秘密，植物将其锁在细胞内称为线粒体的部分，既发生二氧化碳释放的地方。这个开关太神奇了，它不仅关系到植物本身的生物量产生，也关系到大气环境。线粒体上的转运蛋白会引导丙酮酸通过呼吸作用释放二氧化碳，但以其他方式产生的丙酮酸会被植物细胞保留以产生生物量；如果转运蛋白被阻断，植物就会利用其他途径的丙酮酸进行呼吸。植物自身的这种自动切换功能进化得相当完善，如果人类根据需要（食物和环境）对其重新设计，使其达到更好的CO2 吸收效果，那将对于人类的碳达峰和碳中和起到举足轻重的作用。

Discovery With “Profound Implications” – Secret Carbon Decisions Plants Are Making About Our Future

具有“深远意义”的发现——植物正在为我们的未来做出的秘密碳决策

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Plants make their own ‘secret’ decisions about how much carbon to release back into the atmosphere via a previously unknown process.
植物通过以前未知的过程做出自己的“秘密”决定，决定将多少碳释放回大气中。
New research has revealed that plants make their own ‘secret’ decisions about how much carbon to release back into the atmosphere via a previously unknown process, a discovery with “profound implications” for the use of plants as carbon stores. The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Western Australia (UWA).
新的研究表明，植物会通过以前未知的过程自行决定将多少碳释放回大气中，这一发现对将植物用作碳储存器具有“深远意义”。 该研究由西澳大利亚大学 (UWA) 的研究人员进行。
Professor Harvey Millar, from UWA’s School of Molecular Sciences and an author of the study published on June 9 in Nature Plants, said the findings mean plants of the future could be designed to meet the world’s food needs while also aiding the environment.
来自西澳大学分子科学学院的 Harvey Millar 教授，也是 6 月 9 日在《自然植物》（ Nature Plants ）上发表的该研究的作者指出，这些发现意味着未来的植物可以被设计成满足世界的食物需求，同时也有助于保护环境。
“Every school student learns about photosynthesis, the process by which plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to create oxygen and energy in the form of sugar,” said Professor Millar, who is also Director at the ARC Center of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology.
“每个学生都了解光合作用，即植物利用阳光、水和二氧化碳以糖的形式产生氧气和能量的过程，” 米勒教授说，他也是ARC植物能量生物中心的主任。
“But a plant doesn’t grow as fast as the carbon it takes in by photosynthesis because it releases up to half of that carbon again as CO2 in the process of plant respiration. This stops plants being the best sinks for carbon they could be and limits how much they are able to help lower atmospheric CO2.”
“但是植物的生长速度不如通过光合作用吸收的碳快，因为它在植物呼吸过程中再次以二氧化碳的形式释放出多达一半的碳。 这阻止了植物可能成为的最佳碳汇，并限制了它们能够帮助降低大气二氧化碳的程度。”
A carbon sink is defined as anything that absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases.
Plants of the future could be designed to meet the world’s food needs while also aiding the environment.
碳汇被定义为从大气中吸收的碳多于释放的碳。
未来植物的设计可以满足世界的粮食需求，同时也有助于保护环境。
Professor Millar said deciding when and how much CO2 to lose is a secret that plants keep locked away inside parts of the cell called mitochondria where CO2 release takes place.
米勒教授说，决定何时损失多少二氧化碳是一个秘密，植物将其锁在细胞内称为线粒体的部分，既发生二氧化碳释放的地方。
“Our research, led by PhD candidate and Forrest Scholar Xuyen Le, discovered this CO2 release decision is governed by a previously unknown process, a metabolic channel that directs a product of sugar called pyruvate to be oxidized to CO2 or kept to make plant biomass,” Professor Millar said.
“我们的研究（由博士生和 Forrest 学者 Xuyen Le 领导）发现这种二氧化碳释放的决定是由一个以前未知的过程控制的，这是一个代谢通道，它指导一种叫做丙酮酸的糖产物被氧化成二氧化碳或保持制造植物生物质， ”米勒教授说。
“We found that a transporter on mitochondria directs pyruvate to respiration to release CO2, but pyruvate made in other ways is kept by plant cells to build biomass – if the transporter is blocked, plants then use pyruvate from other pathways for respiration,” Ms. Le said.
“我们发现线粒体上的转运蛋白会引导丙酮酸通过呼吸作用释放二氧化碳，但以其他方式产生的丙酮酸会被植物细胞保留以产生生物量；如果转运蛋白被阻断，植物就会利用其他途径的丙酮酸进行呼吸，”Ms. 乐说。
Professor Millar said the research shows that plants can differentiate and choose one pyruvate source over another to use for CO2 release. This secret process breaks the normal rules of biochemistry, where the next step in a process does not know the origin of the product from the step before.
米勒教授说，研究表明植物可以区分并选择一种丙酮酸来源而不是另一种来释放二氧化碳。 这个秘密过程打破了生物化学的正常规则，即过程中的下一步不知道前一步产物的来源。
“Understanding the plant’s respiration secret to use a metabolic channel to prioritize carbon release over keeping it to make biomass provides a new opportunity to influence the decision at the last moment,” he said.
“了解植物的呼吸秘密，使用代谢通道优先考虑碳释放而不是保持碳释放以产生生物质，这为在最后一刻影响决策提供了新的机会，”他说。
“This could be done by limiting this channeling to respiration or making new channels to direct carbon inside mitochondria back towards biomass production and so limiting CO2 release from plants.
“这可以通过将这种通道限制为呼吸作用或建立新的通道来将线粒体内的碳引导回生物质生产，从而限制植物释放二氧化碳来实现。
“It shows that current discussions around carbon net zero and the role that crops, forests, and grasslands can play, should also include conversations on what happens inside plants, alongside global financial decisions.”
“它表明，目前围绕碳净零以及作物、森林和草原可以发挥的作用的讨论，还应该包括关于植物内部发生的事情以及全球财务决策的对话。”
UWA researchers are now involved in long-term international partnerships to find better ways to use energy from respiration in order to redirect carbon to biomass without limiting a plant’s ability to grow and protect itself from pathogens or harsh environments.
西澳大学的研究人员现在参与了长期的国际合作，以寻找更好的方法来利用呼吸产生的能量，从而将碳转化为生物质，同时不限制植物生长和保护自身免受病原体或恶劣环境影响的能力。