Laura Gunn

In the Gunn Lab, we study and engineer nature’s vital, but notoriously inefficient, CO2-fixing enzyme, Rubisco (ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase), whose catalysis often limits the growth and yield of crop plants.

We look for ways to develop the prerequisite information and tools to express more efficient Rubisco variants in synthetic biology systems and in crops: by identifying unique structure-function, overcoming chaperone incompatibilities, and understanding and utilizing the catalytic influence of the auxiliary Rubisco small subunit.

Learn more at the Gunn Lab website.

Select journal articles

Google Scholar profile.

• Robison, T.A., Villareal, J.C.A., Li, F.W. & Gunn, L.H^. (2026). Hornwort pyrenoids: a terrestrial exception with engineering lessons. Plant Physiology, kiag247.
• Bohling, S.M., Musharoff, S. &, Gunn, L.H.^ (2026). Advances and Opportunities for Computational Interrogation of Plant Proteins. The Plant Journal, 126, e70899.
• Askey, B., Ceminsky, M., Scott, E., Wang, Y., Oh, Z.G., Azinas, S., Laganowsky, A. &, Gunn, L.H.^ (2026). Rubisco kinetic acclimation at the holoenzyme level. PNAS, 123 (16) e2519914123.
• Robison, T.A., Mao, Y., Oh, Z.G.^, Ang, W.S.L, Loh, D.H., Hseih, Y-H., Ceminsky, M., Atkinson, N., Lafferty, D., Xu, X., Gunn, L.H.^, McCormick, A.J.^ & Li, F-W.^ (2026). An unconventional Rubisco Small Subunit underpins the CO2-concentrating organelle in land plants. Science, 391, 1070-1075.
• Xie, H., Begum, A., Gunn, L.H. & Lindblad, P.^ (2025). Directed evolution of α-ketoisovalerate decarboxylase for improved isobutanol and 3-methyl-1-butanol production in cyanobacteria. Biotechnology for Biofuels and Bioproducts, 18, 1-17.
• Loh, D. H., & Gunn, L. H. ^ (2025). A SynBio explosion: a whole new world for Rubisco engineering. Journal of Experimental Botany, 76, 2593-2597.
• Robison, T.A., Oh, Z.G., Lafferty, D., Xu, X., Villarreal, J.C., Gunn, L.H^., & Li, F.W^. (2025). Hornworts reveal a spatial model for pyrenoid-based CO2-concentrating mechanisms in land plants. Nature Plants. 11, 63-73.
• Oh, Z-G.^, Robison, T.A., Loh, D-H., Ang, W.S.L., Ng, J., Li, F-W^. and Gunn, L.H^. (2024). Unique biogenesis and kinetics of hornwort Rubiscos revealed by synthetic biology systems. Molecular Plant, 17(12), 1833-1849.
• Lafferty, D.J., Robison, T.A., Gunadi, A., Schafran, P.W., Gunn, L.H., Van Eck, J., & Li, F.W^. (2024). Biolistics-mediated transformation of hornworts and its application to study pyrenoid protein localization. Journal of Experimental Botany, erae243.
• Rizzieri, Y. C., Lipari, A., Gunn, L.H. , & Li, F. W^. (2023). Twelve new metagenome-assembled genomes from non-axenic culture of Griffithsia monilis (Rhodophyta). Microbiology Resource Announcements, e00728-23.
• Zhou, Y.*, Gunn, L.H.*, Birch, R., Andersson, I., & Whitney, S. M^. (2023). Grafting Rhodobacter sphaeroides with red algae Rubisco to accelerate catalysis and plant growth. Nature Plants, 1-9.
• Ekeberg, T., Assalauova, D., Bielecki, J., Boll, R., Daurer, B.J., Eichacker, L.A., ...  & Maia, F.R^. (2024). Observation of a single protein by ultrafast X-ray diffraction. Light: Science & Applications, 13(1), 15.
•  Oh, Z.G., Askey, B. and Gunn, L.H^. (2022). Red Rubiscos and opportunities for engineering green plants. Journal of Experimental Botany, 74, 520-542.
• Mao, Y., Catherall, E., Díaz-Ramos, A., Greiff, G. R., Azinas, S., Gunn, L.H., and McCormick, A.J^. (2022). The small subunit of Rubisco and its potential as an engineering target. Journal of Experimental Botany, erac309.
• Gunn, L.H., Avila, E.M., Birch, R., and Whitney, S.M. (2020). The dependency of red Rubisco on its cognate activase for enhancing plant photosynthesis and growth. PNAS. 117, 25890-2589.
• Bielecki, J., Hantke, M.F., Daurer, B.J., Reddy, H.K.N., Hasse, D., Larsson, D.S.D., Gunn, L.H., Svenda, M., Munke, A., Sellberg, J.A., et al. (2019). Electrospray sample injection for single-particle imaging with X-ray lasers. Science Advances 5:eaav8801.
• Valegård, K., Hasse, D., Andersson, I., and Gunn, L.H. (2018). Structure of Rubisco from Arabidopsis thaliana in complex with 2-carboxyarabinitol-1,5-bisphosphate. Acta Crystallogr. D 74, 1-9.
• Gunn, L.H., Valegård, K., and Andersson, I. (2017). A Unique Structural Domain in Methanococcoides burtonii Rubisco Acts as a Small-subunit Mimic. Journal of Biological Chemistry, jbc.M116.767145.
• Okamoto, K., Miyazaki, N., Larsson, D.S.D., Kobayashi, D., Svenda, M., Mühlig, K., Maia, F.R.N.C., Gunn, L.H., Isawa, H., Kobayashi, M., et al. (2016). The infectious particle of insect-borne totivirus-like Omono River virus has raised ridges and lacks fibre complexes. Scientific Reports, 6, 33170.
• Sharwood, R.E., Ghannoum, O., Kapralov, M.V., Gunn, L.H., and Whitney, S.M. (2016). Temperature responses of Rubisco from Paniceae grasses provide opportunities for improving C3 photosynthesis. Nature Plants, 2, 16186.