Engineering Biology
Food & Agriculture Challenge:

Produce more food for a growing global population.

Improve agricultural yields by increasing crop efficiency and production.

Engineering Biology Objectives & Technical Achievements

Improve photosynthesis efficiency in crops and other food plants.

Engineering DNA Biomolecular Engineering Host Engineering Data Science

Edit genes in the photosynthetic pathway for improved properties, including stability, catalytic activity, and substrate specificity.

Improved efficiency of key enzyme(s) in the photosynthesis pathway.

Introduce synthetic (heterologous or modified) enzymes/complexes/pathways to improve photosynthetic efficiency.

Models for engineered photosynthesis pathway.

Improve soil nutrients, water, and CO2 use efficiency in crops and other food plants.

Engineering DNA Biomolecular Engineering Host Engineering Data Science

Gene and genome editing to modulate expression and properties of key proteins involved in transport, storage, mobilization, and usage.

Improve key protein properties in important pathways or associated regulatory/transcription factors that are directly or indirectly involved in transport, storage, mobilization, and usage.

Increase or re-engineer microbiome and symbiotic interactions to introduce or enhance nitrogen fixation and nutrient mobilization.

Footnotes

For related reading, please see Hickey LT, N Hafeez A, Robinson H, Jackson SA, Leal-Bertioli SCM, Tester M, Gao C, Godwin ID, Hayes BJ, Wulff BBH. (2019). Breeding crops to feed 10 billion. Nature Biotechnology. View publication.

Last updated: June 19, 2019 Back