
Mix, Match, and Maize: A Synthetic System for Maize Nuclear Auxin Response Circuits
Dhineshkumar Thiruppathi 1,2
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-2018-3356
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center,
Saint Louis, Missouri 63132
1Lead author
2Author for contact: dthiruppathi@danforthcenter.org
The phytohormone auxin plays a major part in nearly every plant process, including growth…

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In an interesting evolutionary artifact, the genes encoding the small subunit of Rubisco, rbcS, reside in the nuclear genome, whilst those encoding RbcL persists in the chloroplast. The RbcS protein is translocated into the chloroplast where the holoenzyme forms. This complexity adds to the challenge…

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Some of the most promising applications in synthetic biology need precise control of gene expression. For instance, metabolic engineering in plants requires the expression of enzyme-coding genes at a precise time, space, and quantity to ensure correct output. Recently, Belcher, Vuu, and colleagues engineered…

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Synthetic genetic circuits allow the reconstruction of metabolic pathways in plant systems for production of many natural products including pharmaceuticals. A challenge in genetic engineering these circuits is precisely and predictably regulating gene expression, especially when genes may be desired…

Review: Enzymes as parts in need of replacement – and how to extend their working life (Trends Plant Sci)
The ability of biological systems to self-repair is a huge motivator in all sorts of synthetic biology projects. Taking this cell-as-factory to the next step comes the question of how often do the parts need replacing? Tivendale et al. address this through a discussion of Catalytic Cycles until Replacement…

Review. Beyond natural: Synthetic expansions of botanical form and function (New Phytol.)
“The goal of synthetic biology is to advance the ability to dependably and consistently design or reprogram living organisms and to fabricate products from biologically-derived materials.” In this review, Patron focuses on the principles derived from engineering that are foundational to synthetic…

The Q-System as a synthetic transcriptional regulator in plants (Front. Plant Biol.)
The ability to reliably induce a transgene has greatly enhanced the study of plant biology. Various chemical inducible system have worked robustly in plants, but plant synthetic biology is still lacking an efficient orthogonal (from outside) inducible system where multiple genes can be controlled at…

Review: Harnessing atmospheric nitrogen for cereal crop production ($) (Curr. Opin. Biotechnol.)
Nitrogen demands for plant growth are accomplished through fertilizers or biological nitrogen fixation. Industrial production of nitrogen fertilizer is expensive and causes pollution due to leaching of unused fertilizer. In this review, Bloch et al. discuss the current status of biological nitrogen fixation…

Review: The impact of synthetic biology for future agriculture and nutrition
The synthetic biology field is going to be important for the decade we began in order to face climate challenges, including food security. However, plant synthetic biology lags behind bacterial and other eukaryotic systems. Roell and Zurbriggen summarize in this review, many of the projects that are…