SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY: DE NOVO DOMESTICATION, METABOLIC ENGINEERING OF CEREALS AND HORTICULTURAL CROPS

Abstract

A confluence of three disciplines, synthetic biology, de novo domestication and metabolic engineering, is quietly 
reshaping how we think about food security, nutrition and climate resilience in cereals, vegetables and other 
horticultural crops. Ten thousand years of conventional selection produced today's crops, but it also narrowed genetic 
diversity and, in many cases, uncoupled yield from stress tolerance. New molecular tools now let us design plants at 
the level of pathways, promoters and even whole genomes, and accelerate domestication of wild species from 
millennia into a handful of generations. This review synthesises the scientific foundations, landmark case studies and 
translational status of these three approaches, with a focus on tomato, rice, maize, groundcherry and other 
agriculturally important crops. Verified proof-of-concept studies include the CRISPR-Cas9-mediated de novo 
domestication of Solanum pimpinellifolium, Physalis pruinosa, and allotetraploid Oryza alta, together with the 
metabolic engineering of Golden Rice, multivitamin corn, and anthocyanin-enriched purple tomatoes. We conclude 
that these strategies, if coupled with responsible biosafety frameworks and pragmatic regulation, represent one of the 
most promising pathways to a nutritious, climate-smart food system for the twenty-first century.[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]