PNNL

Abstract

Plant-based biosynthesis of fuels, chemicals, and materials promotes environmental sustainability, which includes the decrease of greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution, and loss of biodiversity. Advances in plant synthetic biology should improve precision and efficacy for genetic engineering for sustainability. Applicable synthetic biology innovations include genome editing, gene circuit design, synthetic promoter development, gene stacking technologies, and the design of environmental sensors. Moreover, recent advancements in developing spatially resolved and single-cell omics contribute to the discovery and characterization of cell-type specific mechanisms and spatiotemporal gene regulations in distinct plant tissues for subsequent synthesis of cell- and tissue-specific genetic compartments, resulting in improved bioproduction. This review highlights recent plant synthetic biology progress and new single-cell molecular profiling towards sustainable biofuel and biomaterial production.