Genetically engineer insects to alter growth, protect against off-target pesticides, and improve the performance of insect genetic biocontrol against disease vectors.

Engineer arthropod microbiomes to alter growth and reproduction.

• Technical achievement: Develop persistent engineered microbiomes that can spread through vertical transmission.
• Technical achievement: Engineer arthropod microbiomes to alter mate choice, mating success, or fecundity based on desired traits (e.g., host genetic markers).
• Technical achievement: Engineer arthropod microbiomes to increase or decrease host survival based on desired traits.
• Technical achievement: Engineer dependent interactions between genetically engineered insects and genetically engineered microbiomes to prevent unintentional dissemination of engineer microbiomes (i.e., design containment mechanisms for engineered organisms).

Engineer arthropod microbiomes to reduce pathogen transmission (e.g., viruses, bacteria, macroparasites).

• Technical achievement: Engineer microbiomes that produce compounds that kill the vector host after sensing a pathogen.
• Technical achievement: Engineer microbiomes to fill the ecological niche used by a pathogen, to prevent pathogen colonization (e.g., nutrient competition, occupying the physical space).
• Technical achievement: Protect honey bees and other pollinators by engineering their microbiomes to protect them against pathogens¹Leonard, S. P., Powell, J. E., Perutka, J., Geng, P., Heckmann, L. C., Horak, R. D., Davies, B. W., Ellington, A. D., Barrick, J. E., & Moran, N. A. (2020). Engineered symbionts activate honey bee immunity and limit pathogens. Science, 367(6477), 573–576. View Publication and pesticides.

Reduce or stop the spread of invasive species.

Engineer soil microbiomes to resist introgression from invasive plant species.

• Technical achievement: Engineered soil microbiomes that detect and degrade allelopathic chemicals produced by invasive species, to help preserve the native plant ecology.
• Technical achievement: Engineer soil microbiomes that colonize native plant roots and produce allelopathic chemicals to kill native species.

Engineer microbiomes to prevent the spread of invasive animal species.

• Technical achievement: Design microbiome sprays that are specifically toxic to invasive insects or aquatic invasive species.
• Technical achievement: Engineer microbiomes that use RNA interference (RNAi) to specifically target and kill invasive species of interest.

Design tools for environmental monitoring and conservation.

Document and preserve microbial species and strain-level diversity for ecosystem health maintenance.

• Technical achievement: Use computational microbiome models to identify keystone functional guilds within a given ecosystem/environment.
• Technical achievement: Design microbiomes that can be supplemented into an ecosystem to support the growth of keystone guilds.

Design microbial communities that produce biofilms or other structural materials to prevent erosion in sensitive environments.

• Technical achievement: Engineer microbiomes that absorb and retain water in diverse environments (e.g., desert crusts, water-sensitive urban designs).
• Technical achievement: Engineer microbiomes that produce fibrous structures in and above soil/sand/dirt to prevent wind and water erosion.

Engineered microbiomes to help restore damaged ecosystems (e.g., bleached coral reefs).

• Technical achievement: Engineer microbiomes that colonize coral reefs and facilitate reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging.
• Technical achievement: Engineer microbial communities with improved thermotolerance to prevent bleaching.

Footnotes

1. Leonard, S. P., Powell, J. E., Perutka, J., Geng, P., Heckmann, L. C., Horak, R. D., Davies, B. W., Ellington, A. D., Barrick, J. E., & Moran, N. A. (2020). Engineered symbionts activate honey bee immunity and limit pathogens. Science, 367(6477), 573–576. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax9039