How AlphaFold is helping scientists engineer more heat-tolerant crops — Google DeepMind Skip to main content Explore our next generation AI systems Explore models Gemini Gemini Build intelligent agents Gemini Omni Create anything from anything Nano Banana Create and edit detailed images Gemini Audio Talk, create and control audio Specialized models Veo Generate cinematic video with audio Imagen Generate high-quality images from text Lyria Generate high fidelity music and audio World models & embodied AI Genie 3 Generate and explore interactive worlds Gemini Robotics Perceive, reason, use tools and interact Open models Gemma Build responsible AI applications at scale Our latest AI breakthroughs and updates from the lab Explore research Breakthroughs SIMA 2 An agent that plays, reasons, and learns with you Genie 3 Generate and explore interactive worlds AlphaGo Mastering the game of Go Gemini Robotics Perceive, reason, use tools and interact Learn more Evals Publications Responsibility Unlocking a new era of discovery with AI Explore science Breakthroughs AlphaFold Predict protein structures with high accuracy WeatherNext Fast and accurate AI weather forecasting AlphaEarth Map our planet in unprecedented detail AlphaEvolve Design advanced algorithms for math and applications in computing Learn more Gemini for Science Experimental Tools Science Skills Our mission is to build AI responsibly to benefit humanity About Google DeepMind Responsibility Ensuring AI safety through proactive security, even against evolving threats News Discover our latest AI breakthroughs, projects, and updates Careers We’re looking for people who want to make a real, positive impact on the world Learn more Education Our National Partnerships for AI Accelerator programs The Podcast Models Explore our next generation AI systems Explore models Gemini Gemini Build intelligent agents Gemini Omni Create anything from anything Nano Banana Create and edit detailed images Gemini Audio Talk, create and control audio Specialized models Veo Generate cinematic video with audio Imagen Generate high-quality images from text Lyria Generate high fidelity music and audio World models & embodied AI Genie 3 Generate and explore interactive worlds Gemini Robotics Perceive, reason, use tools and interact Open models Gemma Build responsible AI applications at scale Research Our latest AI breakthroughs and updates from the lab Explore research Breakthroughs SIMA 2 An agent that plays, reasons, and learns with you Genie 3 Generate and explore interactive worlds AlphaGo Mastering the game of Go Gemini Robotics Perceive, reason, use tools and interact Learn more Evals Publications Responsibility Science Unlocking a new era of discovery with AI Explore science Breakthroughs AlphaFold Predict protein structures with high accuracy WeatherNext Fast and accurate AI weather forecasting AlphaEarth Map our planet in unprecedented detail AlphaEvolve Design advanced algorithms for math and applications in computing Learn more Gemini for Science Experimental Tools Science Skills About Our mission is to build AI responsibly to benefit humanity About Google DeepMind Learn more Education Our National Partnerships for AI Accelerator programs The Podcast Responsibility Ensuring AI safety through proactive security, even against evolving threats News Discover our latest AI breakthroughs, projects, and updates Careers We’re looking for people who want to make a real, positive impact on the world Build with Gemini Try Gemini Google DeepMind Google AI Learn about all our AI Google DeepMind Explore the frontier of AI Google Labs Try our AI experiments Google Research Explore our research Products and apps Gemini app Chat with Gemini Google AI Studio Build with our next-gen AI models Google Antigravity Our agentic development platform Models Research Science About Build with Gemini Try Gemini December 4, 2025 ScienceEngineering more resilient crops for a warming climate Share Copied 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. 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