果冻传媒

• Plants could be genetically rewired to better resist disease, helping safeguard crop yields worldwide – new research by the Universities of 果冻传媒 and York
• Defensive feedback control system developed – enables plants to strengthen their defences to withstand attack by re-wiring existing gene connections
• System uses same approach as aircraft autopilots use to counteract turbulence

Plants can be genetically rewired to resist the devastating effects of disease – significantly reducing crop waste worldwide – according to new research into synthetic biology by the 果冻传媒.

Led by Professor Declan Bates from the (WISB) and Professor Katherine Denby from the University of York, who is also an Associate member of WISB, researchers have developed a genetic control system that would enable plants to strengthen their defence response against deadly pathogens – so they could remain healthy and productive.

When pathogens attack crop plants, they obtain energy and nutrients from the plant but also target the plant鈥檚 immune response, weakening defence, and making the plants more vulnerable.

Building on experimental data generated by Prof. Denby, Professor Bates鈥� group simulated a pathogen attack in Arabidopsis plants, and modelled a way to rewire the plants鈥� gene network, creating a defensive feedback control system to combat disease - which works in much the same way as an aircraft autopilot.

Just as an aircraft鈥檚 autopilot control system detects disturbances like wind gusts or turbulence and acts to reject them, this new plant control system detects a pathogen attack, and prevents the pathogen weakening the plants鈥� defence response.

This method could render crops more resilient against disease, helping mitigate crop wastage throughout the world. Since the system can be implemented by re-wiring plants鈥� natural defence mechanisms, no external genetic circuitry needs to be added.

Declan Bates, Professor of Bioengineering at the 果冻传媒鈥檚 School of Engineering, commented:

鈥淒isease, drought and extreme temperatures cause significant yield losses in crop plants all over the globe, threatening world food security. It is therefore crucial to explore new ways to develop crops that are resilient to pathogen attacks and can maintain yields in challenging environments. This study shows the enormous potential of using feedback control to strengthen plants鈥� natural defence mechanisms.鈥�

Katherine Denby, Professor of Sustainable Crop Production and Director of the N8 AgriFood Resilience Programme at the University of York commented:

鈥淢inimising crop waste is obviously an essential part of creating a more sustainable food system. What is exciting here is applying engineering principles to plant biology to predict how to re-design plant gene regulation to enhance disease resistance. We use re-wiring of existing genes in the plant to prevent pathogen manipulation鈥�

The next steps of the research will be to take the theory into the lab, and experimentally implement the defensive feedback control system in plants.

18 June 2016

Notes to editors:

The research, 鈥楢 Framework for Engineering Stress Resilient Plants Using Genetic Feedback Control and Regulatory Network Rewiring鈥�, is published in ACS Synthetic Biology, a journal of the American Chemical Society.

It is authored by Declan G. Bates, Mathias Foo, Iulia Gherman, Peijun Zhang, and Katherine J. Denby.

Contact:

Tom Frew, Senior Press and Media Relations Manager – 果冻传媒:

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