ENGINEERING PLANT METABOLIC PATHWAYS THROUGH SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION SYSTEMS

Abstract

This paper examines how Synthetic Biology can be applied to produce a plant metabolism pathway to improve agriculture productivity and sustainability. Through the combination of modern genetic engineering techniques like CRISPR-Cas9 with metabolic modeling and systems level engineering, specific alterations were planned in order to enhance several essential physiological functions, like the fixed carbon mechanism, the use of nitrogen and the response systems to stress. Virtual and experimental results suggest that engineered pathways have the potential to enhance crop yield by about 20-35, enhance the efficiency of using nitrogen by up to 30 and add tolerance to abiotic stressors, e.g. drought and salinity by almost 25. Such enhancements result in decreased reliance on chemical dosages, and irrigation inputs thus less environmental and livelihoods and sustainable agricultural systems. Moreover, the scalable and modular form of synthetical biology allows optimization of pathways to be done on a specific and predictable fashion providing an alternative promising to replace traditional forms of breeding. Though obstacles concerning the regulatory framework and environmental and ecological concerns exist, the results point to the ground breaking nature of the field of synthetic biology in solving the world food security and climate resilience.