Australian researchers have made a breakthrough in engineering crops that are capable of more efficiently sucking carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.

In a new study, a team from the Australian National University (ANU) and the University of Newcastle discovered how an enzyme called carboxysomal carbonic anhydrase (CsoSCA) maximizes the ability of cyanobacteria to extract CO2 from the atmosphere.

Also known as blue-green algae, cyanobacteria are a group of microorganisms commonly known for causing toxic blooms in lakes and rivers and also responsible for capturing approximately 12 percent of the Earth's atmospheric CO2 every year through the photosynthesis process.

"Unlike plants, cyanobacteria have a system called a carbon dioxide concentrating mechanism (CCM), which allows them to fix carbon from the atmosphere and turn it into sugars at a significantly faster rate than standard plants and crop species," Sacha Pulsford, first author of the study from ANU, said in a media release on Saturday.

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"Understanding how the CCM works not only enriches our knowledge of natural processes fundamental to Earth's biogeochemistry but may also guide us in creating sustainable solutions to some of the biggest environmental challenges the world is facing."

The team found that another molecule called RuBP activates and deactivates CsoSCA like a switch. When a cell runs out of RuBP, the CsoSCA enzyme is switched off, making cyanobacteria highly efficient at turning carbon dioxide into sugar.

Researchers believe that the discovery of how CsoSCA is controlled could help engineer climate-resilient crops that are more efficient at capturing and utilizing CO2, helping improve crop yield while reducing demand for nitrogen fertilizer and irrigation systems.