Persistence Control SFA
EMSL Project ID
60649
Abstract
Emergent genomic tools present transformational opportunities for the U.S. bioeconomy, including potential to design synthetic rhizosphere microbiomes to generate secure, sustainable, stress-tolerant, and highly productive biomass cropping systems. Understanding fundamental principles driving the persistence of plant-growth-promoting rhizosphere microorganisms in marginal environments, e.g., nutrient limitation and drought, remains an obstacle. In this proposed SFA, we will elucidate genetic elements underpinning persistence of rhizosphere microbes to control environmental niche, creating and innovating genome-scale engineering tools to predict environmental persistence from genotype. To achieve the Secure Biosystems Design goal of “conferring enhanced stability, resilience, and controlled performance in DOE-relevant plant and microbial systems,” we must develop predictive tools to assess risks from deploying or unintentionally releasing engineered microbes, and we must mitigate those risks through persistence control engineering.
We propose to elucidate gene-function relationships in the rhizosphere microbiome of the important bioenergy crop sorghum to establish genome-scale engineering principles to control microbial persistence. We hypothesize that we can control persistence of engineered rhizosphere bacteria by restricting their environmental niche through genome reduction and by creating synthetic metabolic addictions to plant-specific root exudates. By testing persistence control limits in rhizosphere environments of increasing complexity, we will develop models of microbial escape from containment through environmental complementation and will apply these models to engineer conditionally persistent strains that are resistant to complementation pressures. These secure biosystems design principles will have far-reaching impacts on U.S. biosecurity and will promote safe and resilient biomass crops that will benefit the U.S. bioeconomy and agro-industry.
Project Details
Start Date
2022-12-05
End Date
2023-09-30
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Team Members