Review. Genetic switchboards: Rewiring plant traits with synthetic circuits
Plant Science Research WeeklyThe expression of a transgene in plants can impose a significant stress, sometimes referred to as metabolic burden. Synthetic gene circuits offer a precise approach to engineering plant traits by regulating gene expression through programmable operations. This review by Lloyd et al. examines the core…
Transposase-assisted target-site integration for efficient plant genome engineering
Plant Science Research WeeklyGenome editing stands at the forefront of scientific innovation, offering transformative possibilities to manipulate the genetic code of plants, animals, and humans. A critical bottleneck for its application in modern crop improvement is the low frequency and error-prone integration of foreign DNA into…
Moss phenotype unaffected by removal of repetitive sequences from genome
Plant Science Research WeeklyGenome complexity in multicellular organisms is often associated with repetitive sequences from Transposable Elements (TEs). TE function, importance for genome integrity, and dispensability have not been completely characterized. In prokaryotes and simple eukaryotes, genome synthesis (production of…