Plant Biosystems Design Research Roadmap 1.0

Abstract

Human life intimately depends on plants for food, biomaterials, health, energy, and a sustainable environment. Various plants have been genetically improved mostly through breeding, along with limited modification via genetic engineering, yet they are still not able to meet the ever-increasing needs, in terms of both quantity and quality, resulting from the rapid increase in world population and expected standards of living. A step change that may address these challenges would be to expand the potential of plants using biosystems design approaches. This represents a shift in plant science research from relatively simple trial-and-error approaches to innovative strategies based on predictive models of biological systems. Plant biosystems design seeks to accelerate plant genetic improvement using genome editing and genetic circuit engineering or create novel plant systems through de novo synthesis of plant genomes. From this perspective, we present a comprehensive roadmap of plant biosystems design covering theories, principles, and technical methods, along with potential applications in basic and applied plant biology research. We highlight current challenges, future opportunities, and research priorities, along with a framework for international collaboration, towards rapid advancement of this emerging interdisciplinary area of research. Finally, we discuss the importance of social responsibility in utilizing plant biosystems design and suggest strategies for improving public perception, trust, and acceptance.

Expanding the application of a UV-visible reporter for transient gene expression and stable transformation in plants

“…In general, selectable markers play an important role in plant transformation 13 . In the in vitro transformation, 1x eYGFPuv can be used as a selectable marker for in vivo selection of transformants through live imaging without the need for destructive sampling required by PCR-based genotyping or GUS staining, saving time and cost (Fig.…”

“…Agrobacterium -mediated in planta transformation and tissue-culture-based transformation are the most commonly used methods for plant genetic engineering 10 – 13 . However, one unavoidable issue related to tissue-culture-based transformation and in planta transformation with antibiotic resistance genes as selectable markers is false-positive transformant shoots or escapees on selection media 14 , 15 .…”

Advances and perspectives in discovery and functional analysis of small secreted proteins in plants

“…Besides traditional techniques, the recent revolution in gene editing tools, particularly the invention of the CRISPR/Cas and related technologies, provides new opportunities for efficient gene knockout, gene knockin, gene activation, and gene suppression in plants 115 – 118 . Its development is based on an immune system naturally found in bacteria and archaea, the CRISPR/Cas9 system has been widely used for creating gene knockouts by creating double-strand breaks, which are then repaired by error-prone the non-homologous end joining in plants and therefore often lead to indel mutations in the target gene.…”

Plant Biology Research: What Is Next?

“…In the near future, more and more plant biologists will adopt synthetic biology as a powerful way to bypass some of the technical bottlenecks in plant sciences. Who knows, someday futuristic concepts of a minimal plant genome and a minimal plant cell (Yang et al, 2020 ) may even become a reality. How soon will we have a thorough enough understanding of plant molecular genetics and physiology, so that we can determine the minimal set of genes to make a functional plant that can stay alive in a single stable (optimal) environment?…”