Photosynthesis revisited: climate emergency, “no pollution and zero-emission” challenge and industrial application

The photosynthetic capacity of plants, algae and other photosynthetic organisms to assimilate atmospheric carbon dioxide positions them at the centre of the global climate change adaptation and mitigation challenge[[For instance, see Ort et al. Redesigning photosynthesis to sustainably meet global food and bioenergy demand. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA112, 8529–8536 (2015).]] [[Notwithstanding the recognized need for even stronger emission reductions. ]]. Their autotrophic lifestyle also makes them ideal platform organisms for sustainable production of biomolecules[[ O’Neill E. and Kelly, S. 2016 Engineering biosynthesis of high-value compounds in photosynthetic organisms,]], including molecules of high socio-economic value, of interest to diverse industrial sectors, by increasingly sophisticated synthetic and molecular biology approaches[[Schander et al., A synthetic pathway fo