Plants can now flip a genetic switch in soil bacteria
Zhong V, Jones MA, Cabales A, Gevorgyan A, Inckemann R
Crop Improvement
If you've ever wished your garden's beneficial soil microbes would kick into gear right when your tomatoes need them, this is the first proof that plants themselves can send that precise command.
Researchers built a chemical signal, a modified amino acid called OMY, that plants can make and release from their roots. When soil bacteria carrying a special engineered 'receiver' sense that signal, they turn on a chosen gene, almost like the plant is texting the bacteria an instruction. The team got this working in Arabidopsis, tomato, and poplar trees, showing the plant can control microbial behavior only in specific tissues or conditions it chooses.
Key Findings
Engineered Bacillus subtilis strains were built with an orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase/tRNA pair that suppresses amber stop codons only when the noncanonical amino acid OMY is present
Arabidopsis, tomato, and poplar were each engineered to biosynthesize OMY using a single added biosynthetic enzyme
Plant-derived OMY successfully triggered gene expression in both lab model bacteria and wild soil-derived bacterial strains, with control restricted by plant tissue type and timing
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists engineered plants to produce a special molecule that switches on specific genes in nearby soil bacteria, letting the plant essentially flip an 'on' switch for helpful microbial activity exactly when and where it wants.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Genetic code expansion enables plant-directed control of bacterial activity.
Microorganisms have the potential to deliver growth-promoting benefits to plants and crops; however, to be useful in a field setting, their gene expression should be programmable and restricted to ...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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