{"title":"How much could improving photosynthesis increase crop yields? A call for systems-level perspectives to guide engineering strategies","authors":"Megan L Matthews , Steven J Burgess","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103144","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103144","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Global yield gaps can be reduced through breeding and improved agronomy. However, signs of yield plateaus from wheat and rice grown in intensively farmed systems indicate a need for new strategies if output is to continue to increase. Approaches to improve photosynthesis are suggested as a solution. Empirical evidence supporting this approach comes from small-scale free-CO<sub>2</sub> air enrichment and transgenic studies. However, the likely achievable gains from improving photosynthesis are less understood. Models predict maximum increases in yield of 5.3–19.1% from genetic manipulation depending on crop, environment, and approach, but uncertainty remains in the presence of stress. This review seeks to provide context to the rationale for improving photosynthesis, highlight areas of uncertainty, and identify the steps required to create more accurate projections.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"88 ","pages":"Article 103144"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141179074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Multimodal techniques and strategies for chemical and metabolic imaging at the single-cell level","authors":"Ajay Kesharwani , Vipul Gujrati","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103149","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103149","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Single-cell chemical and metabolic imaging technologies provide unprecedented insights into individual cell dynamics, advancing our understanding of cellular processes, molecular interactions, and metabolic activities. Advances in fluorescence, Raman, optoacoustic (photoacoustic), or mass spectrometry methods have paved the way to characterize metabolites, signaling molecules, and other moieties within individual cells. These modalities can also lead to single-cell imaging capabilities by targeting endogenous cell contrast or by employing exogenous contrast generation techniques, including contrast agents that target specific cell structure or function. In this review, we present key developments, summarize recent applications in single-cell interrogation and imaging, and illustrate their advantages, limitations, and outlook.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"88 ","pages":"Article 103149"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0958166924000855/pdfft?md5=2d663f3dd38772d5999746bc5d60671d&pid=1-s2.0-S0958166924000855-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141164357","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Catherine Griffin , M. Tufan Oz , Gozde S. Demirer
{"title":"Engineering plant–microbe communication for plant nutrient use efficiency","authors":"Catherine Griffin , M. Tufan Oz , Gozde S. Demirer","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103150","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103150","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Nutrient availability and efficient use are critical for crop productivity. Current agricultural practices rely on excessive chemical fertilizers, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and environmental pollution. Rhizosphere microbes facilitate plant nutrient acquisition and contribute to nutrient use efficiency. Thus, engineering plant–microbe communication within the rhizosphere emerges as a promising and sustainable strategy to enhance agricultural productivity. Recent advances in plant engineering have enabled the development of plants capable of selectively enriching beneficial microbes through root exudates. At the same time, synthetic biology techniques have produced microbes capable of improving nutrient availability and uptake by plants. By engineering plant–microbe communication, researchers aim to harness beneficial soil microbes, thereby offering a targeted and efficient approach to optimizing plant nutrient use efficiency.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"88 ","pages":"Article 103150"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141164358","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Biocomputing in plants, from proof of concept to application","authors":"Sarah Guiziou","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103146","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103146","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In response to the challenges of climate change and the transition toward sustainability, synthetic biology offers innovative solutions. Most current plant synthetic biology applications rely on the constitutive expression of enzymes and regulators. To engineer plant phenotypes tuneable to environmental conditions and plant cellular states, the integration of multiple signals in synthetic circuits is required. While most circuits are developed in model organisms, numerous tools were recently developed to implement biocomputation in plant synthetic circuits. I presented in this review the tools and design methods for logic circuit implementation in plants. I highlighted recent and potential applications of those circuits to understand and engineer plant interaction with the environment, development, and metabolic pathways.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"87 ","pages":"Article 103146"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S095816692400082X/pdfft?md5=4a323706e0213144aeb355c89896be94&pid=1-s2.0-S095816692400082X-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141083205","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Synthetic biology advances towards a bio-based society in the era of artificial intelligence","authors":"Attia Iram, Yueming Dong, Codruta Ignea","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103143","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103143","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Synthetic biology is a rapidly emerging field with broad underlying applications in health, industry, agriculture, or environment, enabling sustainable solutions for unmet needs of modern society. With the very recent addition of artificial intelligence (AI) approaches, this field is now growing at a rate that can help reach the envisioned goals of bio-based society within the next few decades. Integrating AI with plant-based technologies, such as protein engineering, phytochemicals production, plant system engineering, or microbiome engineering, potentially disruptive applications have already been reported. These include enzymatic synthesis of new-to-nature molecules, bioelectricity generation, or biomass applications as construction material. Thus, in the not-so-distant future, synthetic biologists will help attain the overarching goal of a sustainable yet efficient production system for every aspect of society.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"87 ","pages":"Article 103143"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141083204","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mu-Rong Kao , Rebecka Karmarkar Saldivar , Yves S.Y. Hsieh
{"title":"Production of therapeutic glycoproteins in glycoengineered plant: old farm for new crops","authors":"Mu-Rong Kao , Rebecka Karmarkar Saldivar , Yves S.Y. Hsieh","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103145","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103145","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Plant-based expression systems have emerged as promising avenues for the production of recombinant <em>N</em>-linked glycoproteins. This review offers insights into the evolution and progress of plant glycoengineering. It delves into the distinctive features of plant-derived <em>N</em>-glycans, the diverse range of plant hosts employed for glycoprotein synthesis, and the advancements in glycoengineering strategies aimed at generating glycoproteins with <em>N</em>-glycan structures akin to those produced in mammalian cell lines. Furthermore, alternative strategies for augmenting glycoengineering efforts and the current spectrum of applications for plant-produced <em>N</em>-glycan recombinant proteins are examined, underscoring their potential significance in biopharmaceutical manufacturing.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"87 ","pages":"Article 103145"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0958166924000818/pdfft?md5=fd84574d0ef648eb853f5ffa6c80b3e7&pid=1-s2.0-S0958166924000818-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141083203","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Plant synthetic biology for human health: advances in producing medicines in heterologous expression systems","authors":"Radin Sadre","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103142","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103142","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Plant synthetic biology has the capability to provide solutions to global challenges in the production and supply of medicines. Recent advances in ‘omics’ technologies have accelerated gene discoveries in medicinal plant research so that even multistep biosynthetic pathways for bioactive plant natural products with high structural complexity can be reconstituted in heterologous plant expression systems more rapidly. This review provides an overview of concept and strategies used to produce high-value plant natural products in heterologous plant systems and highlights recent successes in engineering the biosynthesis of conventional and new medicines in alternative plant hosts.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"87 ","pages":"Article 103142"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0958166924000788/pdfft?md5=f59e4a13634c60a2555aa53f91b6cf63&pid=1-s2.0-S0958166924000788-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140909950","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Angelo J Victoria , Michael J Astbury , Alistair J McCormick
{"title":"Engineering highly productive cyanobacteria towards carbon negative emissions technologies","authors":"Angelo J Victoria , Michael J Astbury , Alistair J McCormick","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103141","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103141","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Cyanobacteria are a diverse and ecologically important group of photosynthetic prokaryotes that contribute significantly to the global carbon cycle through the capture of CO<sub>2</sub> as biomass. Cyanobacterial biotechnology could play a key role in a sustainable bioeconomy through negative emissions technologies (NETs), such as carbon sequestration or bioproduction. However, the primary issues of low productivities and high infrastructure costs currently limit the commercialisation of such applications. The isolation of several fast-growing strains and recent advancements in molecular biology tools now offer promising new avenues for improving yields, including metabolic engineering approaches guided by high-throughput screening and metabolic models. Furthermore, emerging research on engineering coculture communities could help to develop more robust culturing systems to support broader NET applications.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"87 ","pages":"Article 103141"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0958166924000776/pdfft?md5=8f561c6a8223113a95b21e071bdfc231&pid=1-s2.0-S0958166924000776-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140906834","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mickael Durand , Sébastien Besseau , Nicolas Papon , Vincent Courdavault
{"title":"Unlocking plant bioactive pathways: omics data harnessing and machine learning assisting","authors":"Mickael Durand , Sébastien Besseau , Nicolas Papon , Vincent Courdavault","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103135","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103135","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Plant bioactives hold immense potential in the medicine and food industry. The recent advancements in omics applied in deciphering specialized metabolic pathways underscore the importance of high-quality genome releases and the wealth of data in metabolomics and transcriptomics. While harnessing data, whether integrated or standalone, has proven successful in unveiling plant natural product (PNP) biosynthetic pathways, the democratization of machine learning in biology opens exciting new opportunities for enhancing the exploration of these pathways. This review highlights the recent breakthroughs in disrupting plant-specialized biosynthetic pathways through the utilization of omics data harnessing and machine learning techniques.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"87 ","pages":"Article 103135"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0958166924000715/pdfft?md5=faeb460050cd7f736cb0e9555fd8e875&pid=1-s2.0-S0958166924000715-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140894333","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Technologies for the discovery of G protein–coupled receptor–targeting biologics","authors":"McKenna L Downey , Pamela Peralta-Yahya","doi":"10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103138","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103138","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>G protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs) are important pharmaceutical targets, working as entry points for signaling pathways involved in metabolic, neurological, and cardiovascular diseases. Although small molecules remain the major GPCR drug type, biologic therapeutics, such as peptides and antibodies, are increasingly found among clinical trials and Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs. Here, we review state-of-the-art technologies for the engineering of biologics that target GPCRs, as well as proof-of-principle technologies that are ripe for this application. Looking ahead, inexpensive DNA synthesis will enable the routine generation of computationally predesigned libraries for use in display assays for the rapid discovery of GPCR binders. Advances in synthetic biology are enabling the increased throughput of functional GPCR assays to the point that they can be used to directly identify biologics that modulate GPCR activity. Finally, we give an overview of adjacent technologies that are ripe for application to discover biologics that target human GPCRs.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":10833,"journal":{"name":"Current opinion in biotechnology","volume":"87 ","pages":"Article 103138"},"PeriodicalIF":7.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140901888","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}